


GAME START after GAME CLEAR after GAME OVER

by harezora



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen, M/M, Multiple Personalities, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-16
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2017-11-25 17:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 47,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/641491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harezora/pseuds/harezora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place after Super Dangan Ronpa 2. May diverge from Dangan Ronpa 3.<br/>With much hard work from the survivors with the Future Foundation,  the people who died during in the are resurrected but without their memories. However, Hinata leaves the Future Foundation without warning after asking Naegi an enigmatic question about Junko’s despair. After a long time, Hinata comes back to the Future Foundation thanks to Kamukura, only to declare that the Future Foundation is now his enemy. How will the Future Foundation respond to their ex-comrade and why is Hinata doing this?<br/>Original fic is in Chinese. OP owns the fic while I only own this translation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Game over之后的Game Clear之后的Game Start](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/15747) by rpn07. 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13 people wake up on the beach of a southern island. Isn’t the number of people unlucky? Komaeda ponders about the situation that he is now in. (Komaeda's POV)

I kept seeing lots of meaningless number series flowing past in front of my eyes.

The numbers that covered my entire line of vision seemed to form the whole world. Although it flowed too fast for me to see any content clearly, a dream-like awareness made out something like a ‘binary or hexadecimal’ before my thinking ability could recover.

…… Whether is it a binary, a hexadecimal or a chain of numbers formed by monkeys jumping on a number keypad, this should not matter, I think. The only thing I was concerned about was……

……

………….

………….?

What’s this?

Questions about my current situation streamed into my delayed and malfunctioning brain streamed into my grain for the first time. However, before these vague questions became clear thoughts, everything was engulfed by a flood of light.

Not knowing whether he awoke from a dream or a coma, Komaeda Nagito found himself lying down in southern style beach that should be unknown but weirdly familiar to him.

‘Did the ship… run into an accident…?’

Besides him, there were almost ten other people scattered about him that made Komaeda think about this possibility. Anyway, he already experienced the probability of a plane being hit by a meteorite, so there was no need to be surprised by a case of a boat colliding with a whale. However, he dismissed this possibility first. For now, whether he had memories of experiencing all these things, all the people on the beach did not have any sign of being wet from sea water. Also, there were no boat wreckages or remains, so the deduction that a boat running into an accident and sailed over did not make sense.

As he was seriously considering whether the possibility of being kidnapped by aliens or being involved in some time-space experiment was higher, new people appeared on the beach. At the same time, the other people on the sand also started to wake up one by one.

‘Eh? Where is this place?’

Someone asked a question that was completely expected.

‘This is… Ah, are you alright?’

A girl stood up and patted away the sand before making sure of her situation. She looks someone who is very concerned about others.

‘Ahaha! This is the southern island dream! Oh yeah!’

Another person woke up and was immediately full of energy while jumping around actively. He should not have any problems with his body but he should go and see a psychiatrist.

‘Oh, how worthy of the Four Dark Deva Lords of Destruction. Finally you even mastered time travelling…….’

There was also someone who was expressing his delusions. Nobody could figure if it was targeted at other people or he was saying this at the wrong timing.

‘Leave everything to me, my cute kitten. Let my fiery hot techniques melt you …’

People who say dangerous sleep talk before awaking do exist.

‘I-I’m s-so s-sorry! I f-fell again… uwaahhh…’

Is this some physics defying ability to fall down before even standing up?

‘Nidai… Nidai ji-saaaannn!!!’

‘What?! T-this is… wahahaha! This doesn’t look too bad, kid!’

A newcomer growled at the one of awake people with tears in his eyes. Afterwards, he went for a hug which most people expected, but a vicious flying kick came afterwards… the opponent managed to retaliate despite being surprised. This should be a special greeting method used by certain people.

‘Peko…’

‘M-master?’

The newcomers and the already awake group were now together. Not far away, there was a pair that looked like they were acting as long lost… what seemed like lovers but looked more like siblings in an extremely melodramatic reunion scene… It looked like something worth celebrating, but nobody probably wanted their happiness.

‘You peasants… come out if you can explain the situation.’

The calmest and most stressful response came. The response to that calm response came from the calmest person from the group that just came. But this relatively calm response was only at the level of the person barely controlling her tears.

‘Sorry… when everyone has calmed down, I will explain properly. Now… please wait… for a while…’

Three of them from the group which just came, they all seem to have weak tear ducts?

Although a peculiar situation led to another even more peculiar situation, it was unknown whether it was due to peace that people became lazy in the southern scenery or being used to unexpected developments. In a while, everyone calmed down, before introducing themselves.

The three-person group that just appeared on the beach: Super High School Level Princess – Sonia Nevermind, Super High School Level Gangster – Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko, Super High School Level Gymnast – Owari Akane.

The people who were originally on the beach and woke up continuously at almost the same time: Super High School Level Heir – Togami Byakuya, Super High School Level Swordswoman – Pekoyama Peko, Super High School Level Coach – Nidai Nekomaru, Super High School Level Nurse – Tsumiki Mikan, Super High School Level Chef – Hanamura Teruteru, Super High School Level Animal Breeder – Tanaka Gundam, Super High School Level Light Music Club Member – Mioda Ibuki, Super High School Level Photographer – Koizumi Mahiru, Super High School Level Traditional Dancer – Saionji Hiyoko and myself, Super High School Level Good Luck – Komaeda Nagito.

Because there were 13 people, even if it was just a simple self introduction, when everyone finished speaking, they sat down at the dining hall of the hotel in front of them after moving from the beach.

‘……’

I can’t say for sure whether I’m unhappy with the total unlucky number of 13 people (I should not have this superstition by right), or there was some other reason behind this. This number of ’13 people’ could never make me feel relieved.

For some reason, I cannot accept the number of ’13 people. From my own experiences, it feels like that day when I felt weird for an entire day before I realized that I wore my sweater inside out? It’s like something doesn’t click but I cannot think of what went wrong.

‘…Hmm?’

Anyway…compared to these offending doubts, there was something weirder.

Besides this trash called myself, there were 12 more Super High School Level students here. I who was more obsessed with the hope that the geniuses held more than anyone else, did not feel anything about this and I could not believe it.

It was like there was not even a shard of hope on them… they were people I clearly met for the first time, I could clearly feel the special vibe that only geniuses have. But I was completely unable to express my fervent idolization.

What happened?

The explanation by the princess was still going on. For some unknown reason, the group led by the princess occasionally gazed at me in a complicated manner. Anyway, what I can only do now is to listen to explanations before thinking again.

Oh… if the appeasing words were taken away and the integrated explanation was left, the situation was probably… The 13 people here, no, with another ‘Super High School Level Mechanic’ who was doing something important somewhere else, there would be 14 students. All of them were classmates of Hope Peak’s Academy’s 77th batch. (Even if the number of people was changed to 14, it still did not feel right). As a school trip, they were to visit a certain research base on Jabberwock Islands. But on the way to the island, one of the boats met up with an accident. 10 students on that boat fell into a brain-dead state for a long time. They were still not about to wake up after being rescued, so as a last resort, the remaining 4 students took risks to use of the experimental technology from the research base in order to bring the memories of the comatose people into a virtual world...

Honestly speaking, it was an explanation that was very unbelievable.

… but even if one wanted to counter, there was no counterargument.

The light music club member with drills on her head was already over there nodding her head by herself (although it was obvious that she did not understand anything at all). The traditional dancer who looked like an elementary school student showed a scorning smile and a venomous tongue that could break the cute appearance. The plump chef was mumbling something about avoiding reality. Everyone accepted or denied this incredible explanation in their own way. Within them, I can’t even decide whether I ‘believe’ or ‘not believe’ this as an exception.

Whether is it a situation beyond common sense or the 12 Super High School Level geniuses, before the questions about reality, what is more important is…

‘Huh?’

What is this disheartening feeling from nowhere about? I did not do anything, but I felt like I wagered everything I had in my life and lost. I feel like completely burnt ashes that could not be lit again… Hmm, although I am already trash in the first place.

I always felt that it did not matter whether the explanation was real or not… Although I still minded the number of people and the mysterious doubts, but I completely had no motivation to do anything.

If the reason was that I experienced a certain incident which leads to this situation, probably, I must have lost something like a life goal in that story. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 15th Division of the Future Foundation is formed by the survivors of the 78th batch and the students of the 77th batch who had woken up. One day, Komaeda roams the streets during working hours, only to meet a stranger who seems to know quite some stuff about the Future Foundation.

The time that has not past is long and dreary, the time that has past is short and fleeting. I am now wondering what I should do right now. When I think of what happened before, I will always sigh about how time flies.

It has been a year since returning from the island… Looking back now, it seems like a blink of an eye. (Alright, I admit it’s that the author was too lazy to elaborate…)

After spending a week in the virtual world, the comatose recovered due to brain activity. Although different people woke up at various times, everyone still woke up in the range of half a month and received more explanations in reality.

The Future Foundation, the Worst Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the History of Mankind, and whatever unrealistic explanations would make one suspect his sanity. But due to being used to living a mentally ill life, I accepted this kind of explanation earlier than the others. Anyway, when seeing the state of the city after returning from the island, it’s impossible to not believe it.

That catastrophe was still an aftermath of ‘a situation in control’. I trembled at the thought of how much the despair incident devastated people at its peak.

Despite the weird sense of indifference that made me uninterested in everything, I still felt excited and unable to control my shivering body at the thought of that kind of despair and the hope born from that despair. Not long after the excitement, I return to my original state.

The reason for contracting this combustive exhaustion syndrome should be that lost memory. Not knowing the true reason would obviously mean that a solution would be impossible. It would not be good to trouble the other Super High School Level geniuses burdened with shining hope about my own problems. Maybe it was due to how I did not feel admiration for them, but in the end I never told anyone the reason for my silence.

Anyway, I only have such a crappy talent of ‘good luck’… Saying it this way would seem too rude to the other junior who has the same ‘good luck’ talent. I should say that although I have the talent of ‘good luck’, it does not matter what kind of situation this trash I call myself is in, just as long as I do not interfere with the hope of others.

Speaking about that junior, I met a group of them with him as the leader. Already a member of the Future Foundation, he was fighting for the world’s hope… In contrast, the seniors did nothing but receiving treatment for the two year blank in their memories should go jump into an ocean. I don’t know whether it is this reason, but I always felt that even they were the same Super High School Level geniuses, I could see a brighter hope from that group of juniors.

After Owari understood and accepted the truth, although someone immediately suggested joining the Future Foundation in order to contribute the chaotic world, due to the confusion of various reports, we were identified as suspects of the remnants of despair, so we obviously did not get permission. It seems that the world’s unrest led to scattered unconfirmed reports, the evidence proving that we were in the despair party was followed closely but proof that were only scapegoats of the real despair party.

Both sides seemed very convincing and suspicious, so the higher-ups mulled over this for almost half a year before deciding to believe our innocence based on their observations on us for the past half year. Afterwards, with the reason of lack in manpower, the 15th Division was formed by the juniors of the 14th Division and us, formed entirely by Hope’s Peak Academy students.

Hmm, because Hope’s Peak Academy itself was the first to be destroyed during the Worst Most Despair-inducing Incident in the History of Mankind, it would be a syntax error to say ‘students’. To the 14th Division which was had other graduates as its centre, the 15th Division was to protect the fledgling juniors temporary. To be honest, there was not much work to do here. After much hard work for a day, a few days break is the usual here.

The Future Foundation’s original most important task was to fight the despair followers. But due to the loss of their leader, it seemed that the despair party of unknown size had dispersed naturally. It is not known how many are still stubbornly fighting. Just from looking at how there were no targets besides the Future Foundation in this period, it probably proves that the despair party was already left with few people with not much power to do much. Also, until now, the attacks that the Future Foundation received were mainly hacking attempts, destruction of information and intercepting communication, which could be done with few people.

Worst come to worst, the despair party could be left with the number of people in the ones place. However, the few but specialized activities were more troublesome for the pursuing party. The virus that paralysed the information network’s reports and information also seemingly completely rendered a few division useless. Until now, the timing of the virus infection still had no way to be confirmed. If the damage worsens, even the opponent’s shadow cannot be grasped. Whether is it assault or raid, it seems like it would not be all left to the 15th Division formed by the students. No matter how hard the fight is, it is still so peaceful that one would want to yawn.

‘…Huh, where should I roam to…’

The trip down memory lane stops for now. Due to sheer boredom, I was roaming around on the streets during working hours. No matter how much time has passed, it is still as fast as a bullet or a blink of an eye. The time left to spend on wondering what to do next is still long and dreary though.

…Being in an organization that fights for hope but aimlessly roaming on the street during working hours, the past me would not be able to imagine this at all.

In other words, to myself whose only talent is good luck, I can probably get bump into clues or the culprit by walking on the streets? A person who can invade the Future Foundation’s system should be a clever genius. Although I don’t know what kind of person he is at all, I should feel that special genius vibe if I meet him.

With this kind of casual excuse, I pushed the door of a family restaurant that I passed by.

At this timing of 3pm, obviously there was no lunch or dinner crowd. Few people who would choose a family restaurant to eat lunch at, so there number of people in there could even be counted with one’s fingers. At a glance, I could only see a housewife knitting, a middle-aged man with eyebags staring at the work in front of him and the back of a young man who was mumbling to himself but actually speaking into a Bluetooth headset. No matter how I look at it, this looks so ordinary. Looks like I can’t experience good luck without going through bad luck first.

But I still found the excuse for myself, saying that this is an investigation job, so finding a random person to talk to and collect information from would be a better move. Even if it is not for that excuse, I should find some way to occupy my time.

The target… the housewife seems difficult. If she was a talkative one, I would not be able to get rid by her during dinner time. The middle aged man looked like he was on the edge of being exhausted to death, so this is not the right time to disturb him. After eliminating these two options, there was only the young man who looked around my age that was on the phone.

‘… Haha, it could be said this way. Although probability of coincidentally meeting at this kind of time and place is almost an imaginary number, it would not be strange for one of the two ‘Good Lucks’ to suddenly appear in front of me…’

Hearing this voice, I walked to the side of that young man.

‘Hi, sorry for suddenly appearing.’

The young man felt someone approaching so he nodded his head subconsciously and showed a smile that seemed cool on the outside.

‘…Bleargh!’

Afterwards, my shirt was stained by the coffee that the young man accidentally spit out.

…How rude. He clearly said that he would not be surprised, right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Komaeda chats with the young man who spat coffee on him. Why does he feel so familiar when they are strangers who only met for the first time?

 ‘Are you alright?’

Although I wanted to whack the back of the young man who had choked, I could not go to near to other people because my jacket was dripping with coffee. I finally found a paper napkin to wipe my clothes before sitting down on the seat opposite the young man.

Even if choked to the extent of tearing, the young man’s first reaction was to keep the phone on the table into his chest pocket with a godly speed. I could barely see an image of a girl on the screen. Is it a rare innocent youth who was embarrassed about letting people see a photo of his girlfriend set as his wallpaper?

‘I-I’m alright… cough cough… I think so…I’m sorry…’

Finally catching his breath, the young man finally raised his head to meet my eyes… but turned away after a second. The complicated line of vision was not completely due to diffidence, but it was impossible to tell what kind of emotion it was besides diffidence.

‘Never mind. Anyway, do you know me?’

‘…I think so. But we don’t ‘know’ each other that well.’

‘So you’re saying that you spit coffee by reflex when you see a stranger?’

‘What kind of constitution is that hey?’

Oh oh, a perfect oblique 45 degree tsukkomi. If I hone the sharpness of my words, I might even have the potential to become Super High School Level Tsukkomi…. Hmm, this is not the problem.

From his first phone conversation and his reaction when seeing me, he clearly knew that there were two Super High School Level Good Lucks in this area and even knew the appearances of these two ‘Good Lucks’. Honestly speaking, he is extremely suspicious.

But to suspect that he is a spy for the despair party…this young man’s appearance, actions and vibe feels too ordinary. So ordinary that it could not be associated with the madness of ‘despair’. It completely does not fit in with the impression I had of the few people left of the despair party.

Hmm, this could even be a Super High School Level Actor. I remember seeing such a student in the records of the 65th and 59th batches.

‘Aha… I only looked at the information before. I just saw it.’ The young man ruffled his hair, as if he wanted to cover up something as he looked at my face again. He looked more like he was sighing in a disheartened manner. ‘I used to work for the 9th Division of the Future Foundation. Although my role is only to send and receive information, photocopying, moving, plumbing, catering, cleaning, so it’s basically odd jobs.’

‘From this job scope, I can tell that you’re an outstanding Super High School Level Porter.’

‘Shut up. Don’t remind me of the division leader who always liked to order people around…’

He’s of the same age as me, yet he has no strength to be angry for he moaned straight into table while hugging his head. What despairing things did he have to go through in the 9th Division? I could even see the vibe of what seems like a despair party member.

‘Anyway, it was when I spent the whole night looking through the member’s information. I have an impression of most of the members… Ah, because I used to idolize Hope’s Peak Academy for a while. Putting aside the fact that I did this for a night, looking through the records is quite interesting.’

‘You can remember all the students of the 79th batch after looking once? That’s amazing.’

‘What records, they were destroyed together with Hope’s Peak Academy… What I did was to match information to the news reported in previous years… I don’t know when a graduate like me had to do the job for the Future Foundation… Come to think of it, I didn’t collect overtime pay for that?/

‘Haha, don’t worry. After experiencing such bad luck, there will be good luck waiting for you. Don’t give up hope.’

I always felt that I never talked about hope for a long time; I don’t know why I said it so naturally.

The young man was a stranger I clearly met for the first time, but there was a sense of familiarity that made people let down their guard around him. By right, I don’t even look give ordinary people that I don’t feel the genius vibe from a second look. When I realized it, I felt that I seemed to enjoy chatting with him.

… Maybe I knew this person or someone like him as a friend in my lost memories?

Ahaha, this is impossible. Even if I made a friend due to good luck, if it was me, I would lose this friend as a result of bad luck.

‘Hope… huh…’ The young man grimaced and then sighed. ‘I can only hope to find a new job before I finish spending my savings. At the start of the new year, this seems to be a delusion.’

‘Eh? You were fired by the 9th Division?’

‘Because… if you were also a member of the Future Foundation, you should know that the various divisions were always attacked by the remnants of the despair party? Two months ago, the 9th division’s entire local area network’s computers all got attacked. It’s not just the documents being infected, the affected computers all started showing a weird bear avatar, and the computers started acting by themselves… All my hard work of a few days were gone like this…’

‘You never saved a backup copy on another device?’

‘I saved a copy. But the last time I used it, I forgot to take it out of the computer. It ended up formatted like the computer…’

‘So you got fired huh…’

This time, a vibe of self-depreciation crept into the young man’s smile.

‘Although it was my fault, but it’s not just this… After the hacking attempt, everyone except the Hope’s Peak Academy graduates were all fired. There were also individual interrogations’

‘Because there was a mole?’

‘Who knows? The people on top seem to think so, so the 9th division was reduced to just the academy graduates by firing all the ordinary people.’

This is my first time hearing about this.

If the local area network got infected by a virus, suspecting that a double agent let the despair party put in the virus would be an expected response. But completely firing the ordinary employees, can the group even function normally? Or is it something that trash like me can never understand?

‘Oh… then do you want to work at the 15th Division? This division consists of people of around your age, so it should be good for you.’

For some reason, this casual invitation made him show some sort of longing expression. But he immediately went back to his original grimace and shook his head at me.

‘I appreciate your kindness. However if the division that I’m in gets attacked again, this time I’m really going over to the despair party.’

‘Ahaha, I can’t say no about this.’

Ah, is this something I can laugh at?

‘At least give me some affirmation if you want to be mean!’

(t/n: I’m not sure about the last few sentences so it might not make sense?!)

Oh oh, the perfect 45 degree tsukkomi appears again.

‘But can’t you consider coming to work? You know, before you find another a better job.’

‘Such a warm persuasion feels more like a trap… no thanks. I’m really sorry for staining your clothes and more sorry for not having the money to treat you. I have an arrangement with a friend for job application, so I have to leave now.’

‘Is that so? Then I have no choice as it would not be good if a guy like me disrupted your schedule. Let’s chat next time.’

‘Don’t decide that there will be a next time as if it will definitely happen…’

‘Hmm, I only have such a crappy talent of ‘good luck’. The probability of meeting somewhere else by coincidence should be high?’

‘…It’s better if it doesn’t happen.’

While he said that, he casually waved his hand to say goodbye. He didn’t even turn his head before going out of the premises.

What a strange person. I clearly felt nothing special from him, but he piqued my interest and made me want to continue talking to him. Although I only met him for the first time, he could even talk to trash like me, this should be some amazing talent right… Super High School Level Chatterbox?

Is this really our first meeting?

Although I can’t remember it, there is some sense of nostalgia or familiarity, a peculiar feeling that would not go away. Maybe we had met before? Otherwise, who does he resemble?

Speaking about this, I feel that he reminds me of Naegi-kun in some ways although his appearance, speech and vibe are completely not like him…

Hmm… so it’s the ordinary vibe that could still attract people? In my memory, there seems to be only these two people who can speak normally to troublesome trash like me? Oh, for Naegi-kun, I should say that even I feel would feel bad if I embarrass a junior like him who is a good person to the core, so I had to control myself.

Although I can’t say it clearly, I always felt that these two people are quite similar in some way… but they are completely opposites in other aspects.

‘Ah…’

I only realised this now… really, an incurable trash like me has nothing good at all.

I… forgot to ask the name of that young man…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude: We finally find out who is the strange young man Komaeda spoke to! Although I think you would have guessed who it was.

‘Hah… we really met. Good luck is indeed the scariest talent…’

When he walked out of the store, the young man gave a long sigh while scurrying into an alley next to the road as if he was escaping. He ensured that nobody was around him before stopping to lean on a wall.

‘Keke, although you said this, didn’t you chat happily just now?’

‘Don’t be funny, my heart almost stopped… Hmm, although I can’t say that I’m happy, but I did feel a bit nostalgic.’

The girl’s voice streaming from the earphones had a mischievous tone, making the young man tug his hair embarrassedly, moving his line of vision to the sky.

‘Wow… I could actually speak to that guy and feel nostalgic, if it was last time, I would not have believed it…’

‘Eh? I always admired you at that time you were the only person who could speak properly to Komaeda-kun.’

‘Besides the beginning, when did I ever speak to that guy normally…’

Although his mouth was full of complaints, the young man’s expression was quite warm and quite lonely.

‘So do you still miss everyone?’

‘Komaeda could seem so normal, so they must be living boringly peaceful lives. Anyway, these guys don’t need me to worry about them.’

‘Maybe this is true, maybe it’s not… but…’

‘Nanami.’

The young man stopped the voice of the girl from the earphones with a calm tone. He took a deep breath before leaving the wall he was leaning on.

‘However, with this situation, I don’t even have the right to say ‘Don’t worry about me.’… but this is what I have decided and I will take responsibility for it.

‘But… but!’

‘I’m sorry that I made you feel bad… I also know. It’s not their fault, it’s actually my fault. But from the very beginning, it’s not a matter of who is right or wrong.’

The young man smiled in a self-depreciating way. In a moment, his expression became a sneer that looked like it belonged to another person.

‘From the moment I decided to do this, I became their enemy. It’s best that they can remain their current peace. If they stop me, I will not give them any mercy—even if it is them, I will eliminate them at my full strength.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Togami interrogates Komaeda about the person he met. Afterwards, Naegi and Kirigiri talk to Togami while Komaeda eavesdrops. The culprit behind all the attacks on the Future Foundation is revealed, but what is his motive if it's not despair?

‘Hey, where did you go?’

‘Ahaha, I was roaming around the streets. Do you want to eat anything? Ah, the food bought from street stalls are definitely not of your taste.’

The division leader did not look at the takoyaki I took out. He gave me a stare that made me cringe, but he eventually gave up.

Togami Byakuya, the division leader of Future Foundation’s 15th Division. As ‘Super High School Level Heir’, his leadership and efficiency are definitely incomparable. His aloof nature and adjustment issues were just some of his flaws… Although when I see him interacting with the people of the 78th batch, I would question my impression of him being cold. Anyway, although he is an outstanding leader, when he faces a shameful person like me, any stronger leadership abilities is futile.

‘…Forget about it. There will be an emergency meeting later, be at the meeting room before 5. Also, next time when you go for a walk, do not switch off your phone.’

‘Eh? I never… Ah, it’s out of battery.’

I clearly remembered charging it last night. Was there something wrong with the wire, plug or battery? Anyway…

If my phone still had battery or I noticed the low battery level, I would have been called back when I was roaming halfway. But the truth is that my impulsive skiving off work to roam the streets and my phone not having enough battery is only a coincidence. These incidents ended up with me meeting the young man who I forgot to ask the name of at the family restaurant.

The young man who my ‘good luck’ pointed to, what kind of significant person was he?

‘…Ne, Togami-kun, do you know the people from the 9th Division?’

‘The 9th Division?’ Togami who was about to turn around to leave for the meeting room turned back while looking at me in surprise.

‘That division is mainly formed by graduates from the 56th to 60th batch; do you know anyone from there?’

‘No, not the graduates. I just want to ask about an ordinary worker who is about my age that used to work there… Togami-kun, your glasses are slipping.’

‘Ah… cough cough…’

Using coughing to cover up is so unsightly, Togami-kun. Are you that surprised because I was interested in an ordinary person that your glasses slipped?

…Even if I asked myself, I would be really shocked too. Luckily this time I asked Togami-kun, if I asked Souda-kun, his jaw would probably drop. But come to think of it, I wouldn’t think that Souda-kun would know people from the other divisions, so it was impossible that I would ask him in the first place.

Maybe the diplomatic vice division leader Sonia-san would be a better person to ask than Togami-kun who takes everything upon himself. Or I could ask Kirigiri-san who is in charge of information… Ah, I might even get an answer from Naegi-kun who could be called the soul of this division.

‘The upcoming meeting has more urgent things to be discussed. We’ll talk about personal matters later.’

Returning to his usual state, Togami walked towards the meeting room afterwards. From his anxious tone, it seems that the meeting would be of something critical. Maybe the next target will be the 15th Division?

Ah, Togami who already walked away had stopped… Pausing for a few seconds before walking back, did he forget to inform me of anything?

‘…Hey, what is the name of that ‘young man of your age’ that you want to know about?’

‘Huh? Sorry but I forgot to ask for his name, he was someone that I met by coincidence on the streets today.’

‘You met by ‘coincidence’…? What does this person look like?’

Togami-kun’s expression looks very stiff. What did he think of to make him look like he’s going to grab my collar with such a strict and oppressing expression?

‘Oh… his figure is like mine and he’s almost of the same height as me? If there’s anything special about his appearance… his antenna is special?’

‘…?!’

‘After looking at Hagakure-kun’s and Mioda-san’s hairstyles, I’ve been so desensitized to hairstyles that I can’t tell what kind of hairstyle is special. But that person looks too ordinary in general. If there was anything significant, I could only talk about his hairstyle… He has messy hair that is beyond shoulder length, and then there’s an rather artistic antenna sticking out in front…’

I used my hand to gesture the shape and position of the antenna. Togami-kun’s stern expression looks just like as if he was negotiating with the despair party.

‘You say that he felt like a normal person when you saw him…?’

‘Hmm? Could it be that Togami-kun knows that Super High School Level genius? Then I must have misjudged you.’

‘What did you speak about?’

Togami-kun overlooked my joke and continued asking. From the fact that he isn’t angry by now, the person I met was someone so important that he could not get angry about?

‘Just casual chatter only, about how he lost his job at the 9th division and looking for a new job… I wanted to bring him to work here, but I was rejected, ahaha.’

My flippant laugh seems to bring Togami-kun to his limit but he did not make any objections at my attitude. If it was not because he had the energy to get angry, it could be due to how he had no hope in correcting my attitude… eh? Although it’s a small unimportant thing, is it alright to take away other people’s hope like this?

‘Ne, does Togami-kun know who this is?’

‘… After the meeting, I’ll explain according to the situation, you should first…’

‘Togami-san!’

Ah, this time it’s Naegi-kun running towards us with a change in expression. Looks like his ‘good luck’ made him notice something important? Even Kirigiri-san who was next to him seemed a little anxious under her cool demeanor. This is the first time I’ve seen the core people of the 78th batch changing their expression at the same time.

‘Ah, Komaeda-senpai…?

‘Don’t mind me. Do you have anything to discuss? Then I shall not disturb, see you later.’

Although I was only standing here as I was stopped by Togami-kun, from the atmosphere, I could tell that if I don’t leave, they cannot discuss anything. I better leave now.

Also, if I don’t leave quickly, I would not be able to sneak somewhere to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Therefore, after I smiled and waved to them, I turned to the direction of the meeting room to leave. Then after leaving their line of vision, I sped back to the living quarters.

If they did not want to be overheard by anyone, they would not go to the corridors, meeting rooms, lounges or canteens were people would pass by anytime. The best possibility would be one of their rooms. With the situation of two males and a female, they wouldn’t go to Kirigiri-san’s room. They would go to either Togami-kun’s or Naegi-kun’s room…

I believe that with a one in two chance I would not choose wrongly with my crappy ability. But before depending on my luck to determine what room they will go to, because the only room I could go into is Naegi’s room, so the luck I need to depend is them going to the only room I could enter.

Of course all the rooms in the living quarters use the same lock, so it’s impossible that I can break into Naegi’s room but not Togami’s room. But…

‘Ah, it’s here.’

I expect nothing less from Naegi-kun who possesses amazing ability yet fitting into the highest law attributes of psychological tests. His extra key was hidden under the carpet at his door. Only he would do something so elementary among everyone in the division. The truth now even proves that people would be so thankful for it.

At the fastest possible speed, I opened the door, hid the key and closed the door before finding a hiding place. In the closet, I waited for their conversation with bated breath.

…Don’t worry, Naegi-kun. I will keep the fact that you have a few wedged shoes in your closet a secret. Don’t give up hope on growing taller, although even I feel that you should cling on to this hope.

When I counted the 24th Monobear in my heart, there were sounds of a door opening and footsteps of walking into a room. At first I was worried that Kirigiri-san’s vigilant eyes would notice signs of a break in. But from their immediate conversation after entering, it looks like I worried for nothing. It looks like the talent of good luck is the natural enemy of the detective.

‘There’s only half an hour to the meeting… you say it first. Naegi, what happened?’

‘Ah, erm… around 20 minutes ago, I received a call from a stranger asking me to meet outside…’

‘Following a stranger out at this kind of timing?!’

Oh, how rarely that I agree with Togami-kun’s anger… Naegi-kun, even if the 15th Division seems to not be a target of the despair party, accepting a stranger’s phone invitation is too dangerous. In this division, probably only Nidai-san would not need to make others worry in a situation like this.

‘Although it’s a stranger’s number, the voice sounds familiar. So, I…’

‘It already happened so explaining more is useless. Go on.’

Despite how Kirigiri-san’s words are truth, but it sounds like a cover up or is it just me? Is this conversation really between classmates and not between a strict father, an overprotective mother and an overprotected child?

‘Yeah, I’m sorry… I went to the location in the call, and met… an ex-classmate of mine…’

‘How is that classmate?’

‘Suzuki… he was in the same class as Maizono and I in junior high, he was a good friend of mine then. He was also a loyal fan of Maizono and followed her to Hope’s Peak Academy.’

‘…Hold on. Doesn’t Hope’s Peak invite students in, do you mean…’

‘…Suzuki is a reserve course student.’

Even from the closet, I could hear the gasps. Is it that surprising?

Although I read that all the reserve course students committed mass suicide without any survivors, the student’s information were all destroyed with Hope’s Peak Academy. The reserve course students were not the same as the main branch as no news of that year was found; even the number of such students was unknown. After this, it’s not surprising to find any survivors?

…No, from an objective point of view, it’s still surprising. Why should I assume that there were survivors from the reserve course so easily?

Anyway, the reserve course was considered to be infected and became the despair party? After meeting with such a person, Naegi-kun could still return safely. Is there something wrong with the information or was there some other complication?

‘How did the Suzuki person get hold of your number and what did he say to you?’

‘From his tone, there are other survivors from the reserve course and they know many things about the Future Foundation… He came to convince me to leave the Foundation.’

‘…What?’

‘He’s different from the despair party we’ve met… Although Suzuki looks much older now, he still likes to worry about others just like he did in junior high… He took care of me a lot in junior high, as if I was a little brother he had to worry about… Really, the way he worries about me…’

‘So he was worried about you and convinced you to leave the Foundation?’

‘He seemed to be worried that I, an ordinary person would be looked down on at the Foundation… But more importantly… he said… ‘I don’t want to be enemies with you’…’

‘…The survivors of the reserve course, becoming enemies of the Future Foundation?’

Although saying that the reserve course survivors were of the despair party is a given, there was really no explanation for this…

The Suzuki guy that Naegi-kun mentioned does not sound like someone from the despair party; he is just a survivor of the reserve course. To reach the previous level of power to baffle even the Future Foundation filled with geniuses, this is so unbelievable.

Is there any clue that could explain this properly?

‘So it was him… that guy, what is he planning……’

‘You heard something from Komaeda”’

‘Ah… that guy, he seems to have met someone like ‘Hinata’ when roaming the streets earlier.’

…Hinata?

Although it’s is not a rare surname, but I don’t know anyone with this name. Then what is this familiarity that I feel?

It’s unexplainable, but I just confirmed that the young man that I forgot to ask his name is definitely ‘Hinata’.

‘Hinata-senpai is nearby?! That’s….’

‘His next target should be this 15th Division.’

Eh? That Hinata is the culprit behind the attacks of the other divisions? Let’s not talk about how much this doesn’t make sense, but why do these three people look like they knew the culprit that the entire Future Foundation has no clue on since the beginning?

I always felt that the core three people of the 78th batch and the four people of the 77th batch with their memories were always hiding something. So I was not mistaken…

‘Naegi, I know you don’t want to believe that he is the culprit of the attacks. But from current situation, he should be the only person with the motive and the ability to do this.’

‘To be precise, it is alright to believe in Hinata. But do not forget about Kamukura’s existence.’

Kamukura…? Who is this? Besides the founder of Hope’s Peak Academy, I don’t remember this name from anywhere…

‘…No, I also feel that this is done by Hinata-senpai. But I do not think that his motive is despair. Also, I believe in Hinata-senpai, not Kamukura.’

I’m getting more confused. Hinata has a twin brother called Kamukura?

Although I don’t get much, but I still agree with Naegi-kun’s opinion. The person who I met today was definitely Hinata, and that person would definitely not be motivated by despair.

‘If the reason is not Kamukura being part of the despair party to attack the Future Foundation, then what is Hinata’s motive?’

‘I don’t know… but this definitely has something to do with the question he left me before going missing.’


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 15th Division holds a meeting to discuss the recent attacks on the Future Foundation. Suddenly, a sakura mochi eating delivery person interrupts the meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and we have Kamukura making his first appearance which is a nice place for me to stop updating this fic for a while. This will be my last update until my assignments/exams are over at around mid February. Wish me luck for all these school work D:

What was the question Hinata left behind?

‘Until now, I still don’t know why Kamukura would tell Hinata-senpai about his motives. It seems that even Hinata-senpai completely never thought of disclosing his intentions without permission… So I should have met him under an unexpected situation then. He should have no reason to prepare a deceiving response.’

Although I don’t know about the situation then, I always felt that Hinata-kun’s natural enemy was good luck… Did he accidentally spit coffee when he met Naegi-kun by coincidence?

‘At that time, although Kamukura did cause that tragedy by infecting the system with the virus, but that was not Hinata-senpai’s fault. Also, he worked hard together with Kamukura tirelessly to save his friends. He could have taken the chance to delete the Enoshima AE directly, but he stopped due to Nanami’s data. Instead, he wagered his life to fight against AE. Having done all these, I really can’t believe that he was unable to leave the clutches of despair and became part of the despair party again…I also don’t think that anyone would hate him due to Kamukura’s actions.’

‘Only he knows the reason of himself leaving. As for his motive for the question posed when he last met you, only he himself knows. No matter what, it does not change the fact that he chose to become an enemy of the Future Foundation.’

Oh, I feel that there’s some information overload from hearing so much information in a sitting… But I’m still most curious about the question that Hinata left Naegi-kun? What kind of luck is needed to get hold of this information?

‘I know… but he not only left that strange question. He also took away all the recovered data of Nanami… Why does he only take Nanami away but avoids everyone else, I feel that…’

‘Regardless of how many questions you have, you’ll have to wait when you meet him yourself. Right now, the most urgent problem is how to prepare for potential digital or physical infiltration. If we do not catch them this time, thinking about all the questions will be useless.’

Ah, the conversation seems to be ending. I still haven’t heard about that critical ‘question’. Have I finished using today’s good luck? I haven’t paid the price of being unlucky and yet I was able to be this lucky, I shouldn’t hope for more.

Hmm, anyway I can only do preparations for next time. I should be able to meet that suspicious Hinata himself. For now, I agree with Togami-kun’s opinion, I should think about what I should do before I meet him the next time.

…I haven’t felt this kind of excitement in a long time? Although I don’t know how this happened, this seems to have developed to some amazing situation and somehow cured my combustive exhaustion syndrome?

Ahaha, I could see the shining clash of hope versus hope. No matter whose hope wins, there will be lots of shining sparks from the clash. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil with excitement.

Why haven’t you appeared yet? That ‘Hinata’-kun with unknown amazing talent.

For safety reasons, I was 3 minutes late at the meeting as I left the room after they did. A trash like me already has such a bad track record, so I don’t think anyone expected me to be on time—although I was interested in this meeting’s content.

The reason for an emergency urgent meeting, the explanation about the ‘Hinata’ that I met, these could make me understand what I heard from them.

I was the last one to reach the meeting room. Therefore, after I sat down, Togami-kun started his opening speech after confirming everyone’s presence before going into the topic.

‘At 2pm today, the 15th Division received orders from headquarters.’

‘Eh? HQ finally remembered about this division?’

‘The division will temporarily store some of the data that was left and attempt to recover the rest of it. The 15th division is now also responsible for looking after the data,’

Togami-kun completely overlooked Hagakure-kun’s surprise and continued speaking. The content he spoke about made everyone except those who knew about the news all made shocked expressions.

‘Wait, the headquarters was attacked? When did it happen?’

‘Around 24 hours ago. The opponent used the usual hacking method. Due to the HQ’s security being more stringent than the division, the opponent managed to destroy quite some part of the data but the whole HQ system was not completely hacked. Around half of the destroyed data can be recovered—but more importantly, when tracing the virus, the Foundation managed to find the source of the virus.’

Although I think that he Foundation met with dead ends over half of the time, but looking back at the losses before, this is indeed an impressive progress made.

‘Although the hacker was not caught, but from the clues left at the scene, the culprit could be the ‘Super High School Level Hacker’ who was supposed to be in Hope’s Peak’s 80th batch.’

‘…Eh?’

Many people including me all gasped hesitantly. How can something like this not matter?

When Hope’s Peak Academy was destroyed, there were only 79 batches of students. However, the 80th batch was already invited by the school. The despair incident happened before they could start school, so the 80th batch was never formed…The attackers of the Future Foundation were not the despair party, but potential Hope’s Peak Academy students who were never meant to be? Did the despair party pull the potential students in then, or is it… the attacks until now had nothing to do with the despair party?

The hacker of the divisions is part of the 80th batch that never entered school, the reserve course survivor of the despair incident who tried to convince Naegi-kun to leave the Foundation, so far there are only these two people known as the enemies of the Future Foundation. Who were they under, or were they part of two forces called ‘80th batch’ and ‘reserve course’? If they were two forces, would they act independently or act as one… There are not enough clues as of now. In conclusion, the existence of the despair party seems more like a concealing smokescreen.

Then, what is Hinata’s position in this chaotic situation?

‘The task given to the 15th Division is to be vigilant and concentrate on the recovery process of the lost data from headquarters. This is because such severe loss of data requires a certain specialized skill. Professionals of the division without programming knowledge will wait for the technicians from headquarters. It is strictly prohibited to let people who are not students of the school to come into contact with the data.’

Is this something like the 9th Division that Hinata mentioned? To eliminate the possibility of an inside job, firing all outside workers and only retaining the Hope’s Peak’s graduates and students as the core people… There are very few graduates with programming knowledge, so the 15th Division has to wait a few months for them to finish recovering data from the different divisions? Since the headquarters has the most stringent security, why move things to a completely infiltrated division?

Could it be that headquarters actually suffered from system paralysis but announcing it would be too undignified?

‘The data to be guarded by the 15th Division will be arriving tonight. From now, the division will be in a defensive state, please refrain from any unnecessary movement.’

‘H-hold on! Suddenly entering Level 1 emergency state?! We don’t even know whether there will be any attack?’

‘About the emergency state, it is due to other information. I will explain later.’

Ah, is it about Hinata now? But I only know that Level 1 emergency state will be activated if he is nearby, what kind of holy person is he?

‘This afternoon, the person that someone on unauthorized leave met is most likely…?’

Just then, knocks on the door interrupted Togami-kun’s words and created a peculiar atmosphere.

…All the students of the 15th Division are now in the meeting room. Normal workers should not be disturbing the meeting unless they are being attacked… Did an attack really occur before the meeting ended?

‘…what happened?’

‘Express delivery.’

……

…………

……………………

Did I hear something wrong?

Towards Togami’s anxious suspicions and calm tone, the person made a casual answer with a muffled voice, as if he was chewing on something. Even before making a formal appearance, he already successfully made a deep impression on everyone.

Anyway, doesn’t that voice sound quite familiar?

‘If you’re not accepting it, I’ll throw it away?’

The delivery man at the door (?) pushed the door and walked in before receiving any permission. He threw the portable hard disk he was holding on the meeting table.

Just saying, he was holding a half-eaten sakura mochi on his other hand with the other half being chewed in his mouth.

What a super intense delivery person.

But this appearance is quite familiar…I feel that I saw it recently…

‘You, you are…?!’

‘Your division sent the invoice and you’re not accepting? I spent more than an hour to recover this; you have to receive it no matter what.’

While saying it so indifferently, he stuffed the remaining sakura mochi into his mouth after barely swallowing the previous part. Then he took out another sakura mochi packet and started to open the packaging.

How much does he like sakura mochi?

‘I won’t say that I like it, although if it’s me, I don’t hate it either.’ As if he heard the question I was thinking, he turned towards me and spoke. ‘This is revenge for waking me from my afternoon nap.’

…?

Even if he declared that without emotion, how is eating sakura mochi a form of revenge to someone? It’s something that trash like me would not understand? Wouldn’t eating snacks made of glutinous rice make the mouth dry without drinks?

‘…do you want some tea?’

‘I don’t need it. But the next person will need it, so pour him a cup. Plain water will be fine.’

Although his expression and voice was unconcerned and unfeeling, his aura made the people around him feel an unseen force. Is it someone that is difficult to approach?

‘What kind of chatter is that…Why are you… How did you come here before this?! Kamukura!’

…Kamukura?


	7. Chapter 7

This person, is he the ‘Kamukura’ that Naegi-kun mentioned in their conversation?

Ah, come to think of it, his appearance and voice is completely the same as Hinata-kun’s, no wonder he looks so familiar… except that his expression and change in atmosphere made a completely identical appearance seem like a totally different person. This is such an amazing change. Anyway, since he looks so similar, is he really an identical twin brother of Hinata? Could ‘Hinata’ and ‘Kamukura’ are first names instead of family names?

‘I walked in from the door… because Hinata requested to do so.’

‘Hinata-kun, he… Then, he is finally willing to come back… right?’

Among those people who have recovered from their shock, Sonia-san asked Kamukura this question with a trembling voice.

So the 4 among the 77th batch who never lost their memories also know about the existences of ‘Hinata’ and ‘Kamukura’. Regarding Sonia-san’s intriguing speech… ‘Hinata’ used to be one of our comrades?

‘Eh? What happened? Hinata? Kamukura? Who is this person?’

‘Th-That, is that person from headquarters sending something over?’

Facing such a sudden stranger, this kind of response should be normal. But whether anyone will explain, looks like it’s not something that can be explained in a sentence or two. Now we should confirm the intention of this ‘Kamukura’… ah, is he requested by ‘Hinata’ to come? What was he requested to do? Is it really just to deliver something?

‘Hinata-senpai’s request...?’

‘I am only in charge of coming here, not to send the message.’ After swallowing the last sakura mochi, he received the cup of water from me, glanced at everyone before shrugging lightly. ‘Afterwards, let him say it by himself.’

In an instant, without any kind of warning or sign, his ‘atmosphere’ changed.

It is very difficult to describe that feeling. My eyes could see that there was no special changed, but I feel that everything changed. I could say that it’s like a meat bun’s filling suddenly became red bean or chocolate suddenly becoming matcha, this kind of peculiar feeling…

Ah, if you were to drink so quickly, you’re going to choke, Hinata-kun.

Anyway, in front of my eyes, the young man who was still ‘Kamukura’ just now is totally now unmistakably ‘Hinata’ that I met this afternoon. Also, just after the atmosphere change, he drank all the water in one gulp from the cup in his hands, as if he ate chilli.

‘That guy, he even ate all of it…’

Ah, so this was what he meant by eating sakura mochi as revenge. Hinata-kun’s looks so nauseous, so revenge dished out after being awakened is a very scary thing.

No, how dramatic is this going to get?

‘Oh, sorry, suddenly disturbing you all… I should say: Long time no see?’

After drinking water and catching his breath, Hinata-kun raised his head and surveyed the room with a nostalgic grimace.

‘You… why did you disappear without any message or warning?’

Souda-kun banged the table and jumped up. I can’t tell whether he was angry or glad from the smile and tears on his face. He looks quite touched.

‘Did you think that we blamed you for that incident last time? If that’s the case, I’m going to beat you up, you bastard!’

Kuzuryuu was almost the same, even that non-threatening babyface’s shout of ‘bastard’ had more gusto than usual.

‘You made us conduct a search on the island, how do you feel now?’

Owari-san smiled while clenching her fist and posed.

‘Sorry for making everyone worry… Hmm, Owari, let Kamukura accept the retribution then? It would be hard on me…’

Same here. Hinata-kun who seems like a normal person withstanding, Owari-san’s battle power is already a threat to all Super High School Level non-combat people. That’s already something that is a matter of life and death.

…Strange, why even until now, I still stubbornly think that Hinata-kun is just a normal person without any talents? Isn’t this appearance beyond ‘ordinary’?

‘Master, this Hinata-san is…?’

‘Hey, who are you?’

‘Oh, my cursed blood is disturbed as usual today…’

Not mentioning about the different character’s speech, it looks like all the students without memories like me all do not remember what kind of person Hinata was. That being mentioned, he’s also a Hope’s Peak Academy student? Naegi-kun called him ‘senpai’, then is he in the same batch as me? What kind of talent is he?

‘We meet again so fast, Hinata-kun. So you knew me before? That lie was too much.’

I also raised my hand to greet him while I smiled, only to see him smile wryly.

‘I’m sorry. I never thought that we would suddenly meet. I can’t change to Kamukura who is now sleeping. That was really surprising; I almost considered how to silence you…’

‘Ahaha, then I must thank you for sparing my life.’

‘That, Hinata-senpai… it’s a joke… right?’

Because of my personality, I just returned a relaxed smile, so Naegi-kun had to ask this question carefully on my behalf.

‘Ah, how do I say this… Because it’s Komaeda… so there’s still a shadow on my heart, or… I just feel that I should be wary…’

Eh? Why is everyone giving him sympathetic looks?

‘Hmm, anyway, I’ll better introduce myself to everyone who I ‘first meet’ here.'

After walking to Togami-kun’s position at the tables, Hinata-kun took a deep breath, kept all his feelings for everyone first before showing a strange smirk.

‘My name is Hinata Hajime. In the past, I used to in the 4th batch of Hope Peak’s Academy’s reserve course. Now, I am the leader of the anti-Future Foundation group ‘Anonymous’, together with Kamukura Izuru, who you’ve just met. This time, I am coming here as an enemy, declaring my intention of war.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...finally an update! Hinata's reaction to the sakura mochi is one of my favourite scenes haha. Also, I can finally add the multiple personalities tag to this fic. I look forward to translating more about the dynamics between Kamukura and Hinata because the author's headcanons are fantastic.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously, Hinata announces his intention to go against the Future Foundation. They are not going to let him go this time, but can the Future Foundation deal with Hinata?

‘Declare…war? Enemy…? What are you…saying…’

After a short pause, this was the first thing that was said.

‘What are you saying, give me an explanation! Hinata--!’

‘It’s exactly what I said. For convenience, the group pretended to be the despair party. Kamukura and I were behind all the attacks on the Future Foundation in the past year.’

From his atmosphere, it is indeed Hinata that is speaking now. But this coldness in his speech now makes one question whether he tapped into a third personality.

‘Our target for now is the organization called the Future Foundation, not anyone in particular here. The purpose of this visit and declaration is partly hoping that you will not hinder us.’

‘…You think we will just say ‘Okay, we know.’ and that’s it?’

‘The possibility of that is zero in the first place. So that is why I need to cut off ties clearly by myself.’

Even without Kamukura-kun’s engulfing presence, Hinata-kun’s existence has some kind of toughness that does not lose to him. Any stronger will cannot swallow his existence, any despairing choice cannot waver his intention.

To say that it was the shine of hope would be quite inaccurate, but there was some kind of cold and burning light emanating from Hinata-kun that I could not comprehend. It made me feel a strong attraction just like that of the light of hope.

No wonder I felt that Hinata-kun was similar to Naegi-kun yet very different, which is due to this light.

‘Please tell us why! Why are you doing this, Hinata-kun?!’

Naegi-kun also looks ordinary but would not be swallowed by any other bigger existences. Although it is not blinding and not bright, the light of his hope could make one feel comfortable in any situation, thus gathering people around him gradually.

Although Hinata-kun’s light is blinding, it was also cold at the same time. If I were to say that Naegi-kun seems to be at the ideal and pure stage of ‘hope’, in contrast, Hinata-kun is ‘reality’ formed by the clash of hope and despair. They are completely different, but the both of them naturally attract people to gather around them.

‘…Naegi, you haven’t found the answer to the question I left you a year ago, right?’

Hmm? This topic was brought up again, is this question the key to understanding Hinata-kun?

‘Eh? That question… I’m sorry, I’m still…’

‘Of course you haven’t found the answer, because this is the reason that you became ‘hope’—But, Kirigiri, Togami, even if nobody else has noticed, it’s impossible for you to not know the answer for this.’

‘…’

How rare to see Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san rendered speechless and averting their gazes. How much luck did I spend to see such a precious scene?

‘Hey… what are you saying…? Hinata…’

‘You noticed, but you never confirmed and you didn’t want Naegi to know about such truths. Because to you, this is ultimate despair compared to Enoshima. You had to shift your gaze to maintain your perspective.’

‘Kirigiri-san, Togami-san… what Hinata-senpai said…is it true? You actually… knew the truth all along…?

‘…I’m sorry, Naegi. I’ll explain afterwards, now we have to focus on the matter at hand.’

Kirigiri-san avoided eye contact with Naegi, looking like she is staring hard at Hinata-kun.

‘No matter what reason you have, now the Future Foundation the symbol of hope leading the chaotic world back to peace. We can’t just back down because your own opinion…’

‘Super High School Level Detective, at the same time, the daughter of the headmaster, Kirigiri Jin. You have already recovered your memories, haven’t you noticed the truth of ‘that time’?’

‘…!’

‘Or is it a case so small that you don’t feel that it was worth investigating? Maybe you think that those deaths were nothing?’

‘No… I don’t…’

‘Then, did you say ‘Don’t go against the Foundation because of your own opinion.’ when you knew the truth? To you, to all of you, is it something that you can describe with ‘a personal emotional scar that does not matter’ and forget about it?!’

‘Hinata!’

Hinata-kun’s weird rant which oppressed everyone in the meeting room was suddenly interrupted by the voice of an unfamiliar girl which paused his uncontrolled shouting. At that moment, he stiffened, with his clenched fist seemingly trembling next to him.

This voice, did it come from his chest?

‘Eh? This voice…is it… Nanami-san?!’

‘Sorry, because I think that it would mess up the situation, so I remained silent until now… Please, calm down, Hinata. You promised me not to take action due to hatred, right?

‘…I’m sorry.’

Finally, after another moment of silence, Hinata-kun released his fists that were almost bleeding from clenching, and sighed tiredly.

‘Hey, Hinata-san… What happened, what kind of difficulty made you do this… You can’t tell us what have you been doing or where have you been with Nanami-san?

‘…’

‘Hinata, can you let me show myself too and say hello to everyone? Ah, although technically speaking I don’t think I’ll be exactly showing myself this way.’

‘…Sorry, Nanami. To people that you ‘meet for the first time’, so much information has already confused them enough, next time I’ll let you show yourself—it’s almost time to bid farewell.’

For a moment, Hinata-kun showed a bit of guilt before going back to his cold expression immediately. He stretched to switch off the Bluetooth headset at his ear to stop the voice from coming out of his handphone. Looking at everyone’s bewildered expressions, he bowed slightly to show his regards.

Of course, there were many people who could not stand such actions.

‘Wait! Hinata! Explain clearly!’

‘Exactly! If you speak like this, who knows what’s happening?’

‘Whether it’s you or Nanami, shouldn’t you have more things to clarify?!’

Kuzuryuu-kun, Owari-san and Souda-san were seemingly jumping from their seats and screaming at the same time. However, that did not slow down Hinata-kun walking away.

The one who stopped Hinata-kun and also made everyone stiffen was Togami-kun.

‘Hinata Hajime, as the leader of the Future Foundation’s 15th Division, I will not allow you to leave like this after such a declaration.’

‘…So?’

Hinata-kun turned around coolly to face a gun barrel pointing at him. That abnormal calmness, makes it look like Togami’s action was just a threat and he would not really press the trigger.

Actually Togami-kun does not know how to shoot. Although I do not know much about guns, pocket pistols have very short effective range, right? Now the distance of the two ends of the meeting table between them is around 15 metres. The probability of hitting is quite mystical. If the warning shot did not hit the target but an ally instead, or the warning shot really killed the target on the spot, it would be a joke that I can’t even laugh at. And if I was around, the chances of these happening would be quite high.

‘Say everything you know now and stop all hostile actions.’

‘You also know that this is impossible?’ Hinata-kun answered immediately with an indiscernible sneer that is either mocking or self-depreciating. ‘I already cannot stop… Kamukura.’

As he said this name, the whole meeting room became a stage directed by that person  in a moment.

That movement is not some supersonic speed, but it seems that it did not need any acceleration to reach the optimum state from zero. In our eyes, it looked like his existence disappeared from this place entirely.

When we realised that he disappeared from our line of sight, he alreadt appeared in front of Kuzuryuu-kun.

Around when he jumped on the meeting table, he kicked the portable hard disk, aiming for Nidai's head. This forced him to clumsily take the precious thing from headquarters. In this pause, he already approached Kuzuryuu and kicked him at the temple. When pointed at with Pekoyama's blade, he stepped on her sword easily, as if he was rushing to this step smoothly with an aerial kick.

To protect Kuzuryuu, Pekoyama pushed her blade in front of him and lost balance in that action. Without any time to react, Fukawa was the victim of a flying kick. Before the both of them could get up, they were attacked again and lost consciousness.

The staged show that rendered one unable to react and lose all sense of reality continued. The stage was completely controlled by the speeding person that one could see but not react to. It was as if he already scripted the actions of everyone. To a bystander, it looked just like they were improvising to him.

In front of my eyes, Tanaka was pulled by his scarf and collided with the imposter which impeded Owari as a result. A panicking Hagakure was hit by a cup before falling as he tried to escape, thus hindering Naegi. Hagakure's crystal ball flew out and knocked Togami's gun out from his hand. Nidai who finally went around the meeting table to his target was grabbed by his wrist. Afterwards, it brushed across him shoulder and hit the floor repeatedly. Sonia indecisively fired a shot with a revolver, with the bullet hitting a floor lamp and ricocheting. When I put down my hands, my eyes happened to meet with the protagonist of the stage and I thought of something-- he just picked up Hanamura who was next to him and threw him on the meeting table, kicking this muscle missle to me directly.

...Should I suggest to Togami-kun that he change the meeting table to a more frictional one... I can't bear the colliding force of Hanamura gliding (?) towards my abdomen... Ouch...

I crouched on the floor and vomited all the takoyaki that I ate an hour ago. From the surrounding noise, I gather that Owari was let go.

Although I did not estimate the time, it feels like from the beginning to this perfect KO scene should be less than 5 minutes.

All the conscious people were all speechless and stunned. To some extent, it was harder for them to grasp the situation than the unconscious people.

...Anyway, he obviously only attacked me unnecessarily?

'Because I was awakened from my afternoon nap, it's your fault.'

Again, he read my mind, is he a Super High School Level Psychic? Anyway, is this something that someone who casually returns a gun to its owner will say?

Also, the reason why this was completely disconnected from the events just now... Huh, if I say it this way, me happening to meet Hinata-kun on the streets might be the triger of all these, meaning that it is my fault.

Kamukura-kun... although he is a mysterious, unreadable character that does not seem to have emotions, he is actually very vengeful...

'Then, this time I'm really biding farewell... Ah, yes, the nurse over there.'

'Eh? Yes, yes! What?'

Tsumiki-san was obviously crying and biring her tongue. Compared to the completely annihilated male group, only Pekoyama-san, Fukawa-san and Owari-san were attacked. She must have been really shocked... even if she was not frightened, she would still react greatly.

'If you want to check and deal with injuries, it's better to tend to the outside guards first.'

'...Ah? Guards...? Ah ah ah ah ah--?!'

'Didn't I say that I came in from the door?'

Whether ordinary poeple or Super High School Level talents, usually they would not comprehend the meaning of 'so the guards who were blocking were all dealt with' from this sentence... No, it's just that we don't understand Kamukura-kun much.

'Hmm, I think they're still alive?'

Why is this a question...

'So, that's it. Goodbye.'

It looks like Kamukura-kun looked over our responses befre waving his hand in a farewell gesture-- This movement is exactly the same as Hinata-kun-- This time he really left without turning around.

...Ah, this level of destruction and shock is like typhoon-level.

However, without mentioning Kamukura-kun who was hard to read or did not even think about this, Hinata-kun's goal of coming here and declaring his intention as an enemy was to cut off his ties... He already proved that he could never let go of a certain 'meaning' or a certain 'comrade' of his?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was really hard to me to translate the action scenes so I'm sorry if it looks awkward. I feel like I'm not doing the original author justice with this orz. If anyone wants to beta for me, feel free to do so!  
> Anyway, some headcanons (not confirmed by the author, just my thoughts) for Hinata/Kamukura as of this chapter:  
> -His current shoulder-length hair looks like Leo from Pandora Hearts because it has the right level of spikiness vs straightness imo.  
> -When there is a change of personality, there is an eye colour change (red or green).


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the huge gap of a few months between the last chapter and this one! School and uh, other fandoms happened orz. I'm now finally on a 2-3 week holiday so I hope to do at least 4-5 chapters. This fic is really long so I'm not even sure whether I can finish translating but I really love the story because split personality!Kamukura so I'm going to continue it despite being slow ;A;
> 
> Anyway, previously in Chapter 8: While everyone is shocked with Hinata's declaration of war on the Future Foundation, AI Nanami tries to stop him to no avail. Kamukura then curb stomps everyone before leaving.
> 
> Also, thank you very much for the kudos and I really appreciate them! (:

My expectations and the worries of others ended up with nothing. In the week after Hinata-kun’s declaration until now, we sort of forgot that this division existed. In this week, from the information that I heard, the 3rd division’s library was destroyed in a fire, all the full time works except for the graduates from the 7th and 11th division all went on strike. There were so many unbelievable changes. The reason for these being just rumours and no actual announcements is that the network within the Foundation was messed up. The network kept receiving lots of spam and no matter how much mailboxes were cleaned, they were full immediately. The lines between everyone’s phones to their leaders were forever engaged and the fax machine only showed an automated message whenever it was switched on. Eventually the most basic way of communication was by letter and the effectiveness was limited.

Regarding the 15th division, besides Togami-kun who was mobilising everyone and collecting information, Kirigiri-san, Sonia-san and Kuzuryuu-kun, the only one who was probably occupied was Tsumiki-san who was attending to all the injured. The others were all in a state of wanting to do something but not knowing what to do. The athletes were training every day. The creative ones started creating again. The chef did research. The animal breeder brought back a new stray cat. The fortune teller only made one accurate weather forecast. The mechanic tried to invent a new communication machine. The imposter is probably somewhere impersonating someone. Somehow everyone was still occupied in their own ways?

But to me, it just looked like everyone was calming themselves.

The next day after Hinata-kun came here to declare war, Togami-kun gathered everyone again and explained what information they knew about Hinata and Kamukura. To be honest, we were still not able to accept the fact that Hinata-kun used to be a comrade who also went into the virtual space of the New World Program .

The connections we had with reserve course student, Hinata Hajime and artificial AE Nanami Chiaki was how they entered the New World Program before. To the people who did not have any memories of entering the program... to say that we did not feel anything would be a lie. But to me, I still cannot grasp any meaning of it.

The 78th batch and those of the 77th batch who retained their memories must be hiding something important. If Hinata-kun really met us in the virtual space, then something big must have happened in the virtual space for him to betray his comrades. If the reason was Kamukura's actions, it just feels too invalid.

However, the fact that they do not understand much about Hinata and Kamukura is correct. Hinata-kun only interacted with everyone on Jabberwock Island. Besides this, he was just an ordinary student before becoming the experiment subject of the Hope Cultivation Project. Regarding Kamukura-kun, his existence was the school's top secret then. Besides the commitee members and Kirigiri-san who was ordered to look for him, nobody else knew about his existence. Perhaps, even among the graduates of the Future Foundation, most people do not know about the existence of Kamukura. Either that, or they only knew  about the urban legend and rumours that the product of the Hope Cultivation Project does exist, which is all.

After all, there are no known survivors among the Hope's Peak Academy staff, researchers or the school committee who could leak information.

An obliteration of this level makes one think that they were targeted. Maybe all the key personnel involved in the project were all assassinated... For example, the person who wanted to conceal the existence of Kamukura-kun or even Kamukura-kun himself...

Meh, for now this is just a blind guess without any evidence. Also, regardless if I manage to guess correctly, it will not affect the current situation.

Anyway, Togami-kun and company's explanation did not include anything too importnat besides the Hope Cultivation Program. Even now, the truth about how Kamukura-kun was created is completely not the root of the problem.

Whether it is Hinata-kun's real motive, Kamukura-kun's collective ability or questions related to the current situation, they were not mentioned at all. Although they might not have any information on some of these, at least they could say it out, even if it is a baseless rumour. Besides that, Hinata-kun's question to Kirigiri-san and the question he left for Naegi-kun seemed to be critical clues and were barely covered.

From Naegi-kun's expression then, he also could not accept holding back... In other words, Kirigiri-san, Togami-kun and even Naegi-kun never conveyed the truth before. The others could not get any more information through asking them.

I could only use my own way to do things that may be either useful or a waste of effort.

'That, Komaeda-senpai? What did you want me to help you with......'

After a week, I finally had the chance to catch Naegi-kun alone and distract him. But it seems that he never realised that he was being targeted by someone suspicious. Although I'm not the right person to say it, but Naegi-kun, you really need to be more vigilant.

'Oh... before this I met Hinata-kun on the streets. Do you know this?'

'Yeah, so what?'

'So I feel that if I were to hang out on the streets again, I might be 'lucky' enough to meet him again.'

'Hmm... even if you say so... there's only the 15th Division left. If you really met Hinata-senpai, he is probably headed to the division......'

'But for this whole week, I did not manage to get any clues. So I was thinking that if one person's 'luck' was not enough, what can the luck of two people do?'

'...Can I go out?'

'Huh... So being with trash like me will be a burden... Sorry for not considering Naegi-kun's feelings...'

'Th-that, we'll see first! This is an important segment of patrolling!'

Naegi-kun, your gullibility can even make me feel guilty... Also, patrolling has nothing to do with us. We are now on the streets and outside the division already.

Meh, but like what Naegi-kun said, in front of this road, there is only the 15th Division. Other than taking the wrong road, the only people who will be here are from the division. Therefore there is nobody on the road but the two of us.

'Hey, Naegi-kun, I have a question... Ah, but before that, although I think you are 'good luck' so I think it's alright...'

'Uwah?!'

'I have set some traps here so be careful not to step into them... do you hear?'

Naegi-kun who was walking with me just now, had already fell on the ground when I stopped. With his face planted on the ground, it looked really painful.

... Anyway, Naegi-kun was apparently also known as Super High School Level Bad Luck before?

'Oww oww ouch... Wh-why would you set up traps in this kind of place, Komaeda-senpai?!'

'Huh? The talent of good luck can't be used this way? Maybe I could even catch the target with luck...'

'Please don't just dismiss everything by mentioning 'luck'!

It's been 4 days since I set this and nobody has stepped into it yet. The effect of people's luck avoiding it should have worked. Or maybe the two remaining Good Lucks were not compatible but actually conflicting? Or maybe this small misfortunate incident on Naegi-kun is the price for incoming good luck?

'Don't worry. Although it was originally a hunting trap, the blades were removed. When targeting the prey, it would not cause much harm... probably.'

'Huh... Anyway, how to release this?'

'When it has caught something, this part will be locked. It will need a key to open...'

'Ko-Komaeda-senpai... that... how about the key?'

'...Ahaha, it's in my room I think.'

After searching all of my pockets, all I could find was the keys to my apartment and personal mailbox plus a car key. Using logical deduction, it is most likely left in the room. But in the condition of having forgotten, the possibility of losing it cannot be eliminated. Because this contraption is something I bought on a whim online, so it might not have come with a key in the first place.

...It would be safest to ask Souda-kun to disassemble it?

'What are you doing, squatting in a place like this? Did you drop any contact lenses?'

'...Eh?'

From behind, there was a familiar (but not really?) voice which made Naegi-kun and I perk our ears.

As I turned around to face behind while Naegi-kun twisted his body to look behind me, a similar silhouette entered our vision at around the same time.

With casual clothing and a paper box filled with takoyaki, besides his expressionless face, Kamukura-kun who looked like he was hanging out on the streets, was now walking towards here carefreely without bringing up his guard.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting with Kamukura, Komaeda and Naegi have a chat with him although they still could not convince him to discuss things over with the Future Foundation.

'...Ah, it's the takoyaki from the stall at the road in front? It tastes alright so I buy it often.' 

'Komaeda-senpai too? I bought it a few times too, it was indeed delicious... wait! It's not the time to talk about takoyaki?!'

'I won't give you any.'

'The conversation was established?'

Naegi-kun, although your reaction is the most rational here, it does not seem rational to react to a powerful enemy who just came here a week ago in mere suprise without any vigilance...

'What a coincidence that we meet here. I'll pass this to you... Hmm?'

Kamukura-kun who was striding towards us too naturally suddenly stopped abruptly. Due to momentum, he lost balance briefly, but managed to quickly do a beautiful cartwheel.

'......'

Of course, before he could use both hands to touch the ground, he threw whatever was on his hands first.

'......'

Therefore, beside him who landed perfectly, the paper box of takoyaki also landed perfectly along with him on the ground.

'......'

When he saw the animal trap that he had stepped into and my face, he seemed to have understood whatever happened without changing his expression.

'Ahaha... sorry.'

'...So it's still best to eliminate obstructive enemies.'

'No no no please calm down, that's just towards prey right?'

When Naegi-kun was (probably) anxiously vouching for me, my body had already went into a trajectory in the air and began to fall into the drain on the roadside.

Eventually, I was stopped by a 'No Swiming' sign at the riverside so I did not roll into the river. Then, I had to buy three servings of takoyaki while I had no idea whether my organs were still intact from the pain. In the approximately half an hour I took to wait for the takoyaki queue and go to the convenience store on the way, Kamukura-kun who was still staring intently at the trapped Naegi-kun when I left was now napping on the field next to the river as he had finished his rescue mission a long time ago.

......Not mentioning the probability of people from the divisions passing here on patrol, wouldn't there be a high chance for catching colds to nap in the open during this season?

For some reason, Naegi-kun maintained a straight sitting position next to Kamukura-kun and kept looking around to ensure that nobody was passing by while trying his best to strike conversation with him. From my current distance, although I cannot hear anything that is being said, but from just how he was earnestly wanting to convey something made me feel that to ignore such a hardworking child would require some kind of Super High School Level talent. Unfortunately, Kamukura-kun seems to not even need this kind of talent... or maybe he had fell asleep? I could take this opportunity to capture him and easily defeat the enemy leader?

'...So, so I was saying, Kamukura also feels that going on like this is bad right? I will work hard at convincing everyone, so please help to let Hinata-senpai and everyone... Ah, Komaeda-senpai is back.'

When he saw me approaching, Naegi-kun stood up and slightly ran to receive plastic bags from me. Around the same time, Kamukura-kun also sat up bleary-eyed from sleeping... From his gaze, I could tell that he really slept just now.

'...Ahchoo!'

Yeah, he really fell asleep.

... I missed the chance to capture him.

'Ah, I bought some drinks on the way. Which one do you want?'

'Sake.'

'According to the law, I can't buy it now. Is oolong tea alright?'

I'm sorry for not being able to satisfy you. Please wait for another year.

'Hmm, even if there was sake, Kamukura can't drink right...'

When Kamukura-kun nodded expressionlessly, Naegi-kun smiled wryly as he passed him the oolong tea from the plastic bag. He was clearly an important figure on the enemy's side, yet we were now together but I could not feel that he was violating our space. It looked like normal interaction between seniors and juniors... Wait, it still seems like there's a sense of violation?

'Then, since the requested items were brought to me and I also received compensation, goodbye.'

'Wait, Kamukura! Please wait!'

Oh yes, this is the sense of violation I felt...

'...Naegi-kun, are you very familiar with Kamukura-kun?'

My question made Kamukura-kun who was briskly walking away to leave and Naegi-kun who was grabbing the corner of his shirt tightly, to turn around in unison to look at me. Not going to comment about Kamukura-kun for now, but Naegi-kun's shocked expression seems to prove that I was being insensitive?

'No? I just met him on Jabberwock Island just like everyone else.'

'Although you say that, but it's my first time hearing Naegi-kun call other people's name without using any honorifics.'

Naegi-kun is an earnest child who would not drop honorifics whenever addressing anyone, whether in public or private. He addresses the 77th batch as 'senpai' and addresses his peers in the 78th batch politely. I remembered that he also used 'senpai' when addressing Hinata-kun, but why does he alright with calling Kamukura-kun just by name? Even if they are very close in private communication, it seems weird to use surname instead of given name...

Hmm... I should say that I feel that Naegi's attitude towards Kamukura is as if he was trying his best to look after a rowdy child?

'Ah, that is because, if Kamukura was born during the Hope Cultivation Programme, he would be only at most 3 years old by now?'

'......Eh?'

What an unexpected psychological blind spot... Huh?

'But since no matter what he seems older than me, so to use '-kun' would be weird, so I just call him by name? Is it still strange?'

'......'

If I compared Kamukura-kun's behaviour to a young child's childish actions... I apologise, I'm sorry, but my imagination is not vivid enough to create an image of this.

Naegi-kun whose view is special and Kamukura-kun who does not mind being viewed like this, it seems that in some way they have reached the level of Super Super High School Level... Although to say on which area, I do not know.

'Anyway... Kamukura, you're here today to help Nanami send something over, so you came to the division, right? Since you came, then speak to everyone properly, please!'

'Did I not say something clearly last time?'

'It's like you never even said anything?! If you said things properly, the current situation would not have happened!'

'Explaining is Hinata's job. It's too boring so I won't do it.'

'Then let Hinata-senpai meet everyone again...'

'It's because now Hinata is sleeping and does not know what I'm doing, so I could help Nanami bring this over. If he was awake, he would not come here by his own volition.'

...He mentioned about something that Nanami asked him to bring over, what is it?

Anyway...

'Really, meeting everyone from the 15th Division wouldn't be much trouble for Kamukura-kun, would it? We who almost had been wiped out last time should be more worried instead and nobody would dare to take action this time. How about discussing over a sumptious dinner provided by Hanamura-kun?'

The best that the 15th Division can provide in terms of hospitality is the cooking of Super High School Level chef, although it is unknown on whether it would be appealing to Kamukura-kun... Meh, this is merely an attempt to show the most friendly attitude.

'...If it's the talent of cooking, I also possess it.'

In the five seconds pause before saying this, you should have wavered a little right, Kamukura-kun?

'No, Kamukura's cooking talent is definitely weird...'

'Eh? Naegi-kun has eaten Kamukura-kun's cooking before?'

'Because last time on Jabberwock Island... Hmm, when investigating how to deal with the virus, nobody could cook so we ate convenience food like bread and instant noodles. Maybe Hinata-kun could not stand it, so Kamukura-kun stood in the kitchen with a cookbook one day...'

'But it was very boring, so I only did it once.'

'What kind of shocking thing did he make?'

Even with the talent of cooking, there is not much that can be done with completely no prior cooking experience. Also, I doubt that Kamukura-kun can provide the legendary culinary ingredient: love.

'Nah, it's just ordinary onigiri which is very tasty.'

'Ah, the hard part of making onigiri is shaping it. To make it taste bad is not easy...'

'I should say that it's actually food that is considered onigiri due to its type and not shape... Once the ingredients were prepared, he made 30 of them with 6 different flavours within 5 minutes.'

'...In average it's 1 per 10 seconds?'

For someone without any prior cooking experience, this god-like speed can only be achieved with a Super High School Level talent.

'Kamukura's cooking talent... seems to be on making palatable food in the shortest time and least troublesome method.'

'Isn't it good enough that the food is palatable?'

If Hanamura-kun heard this, he would definitely throw his gloves at him.

'No matter what, I never intended to go to your division and will not do something so risky.'

'Whatever risk of going once is higher at our division...'

'That is a last resort in my agreement with Hinata. It should not happen again. Even if it is a one on one with the sword master, I can escape straight away.'

'Even if you say that......'

Although I am not a combat person, last week's scene of carnage left a huge impression on me. Pekoyama-san's weakness of protecting Kuzuryuu-kun indeed made her lose, but other than her, everyone else's true abilities were useless against him.

Generally speaking, even for the non-combat people, that number of people should not be defeated by one person bare-handedly. Whether is it attacking first, taking advantage of opportunities or being the strongest, it cannot change the fact that Kamukura-kun defeated everyone in the division himself.

'I said that it was only possible if Hinata agreed... Also, even without me saying it, Nanami should be able to tell you the truth.'

'Huh...?'

'Why Hinata-kun arrived at that decision, what is his true motive etcetera, if it is Nanami, she can tell you. After all, by doing this, she had requested me to pass this to you.'

'Nanami, she......'

'Because she probably can't bear to see Hinata-kun being burdened, so through her request, she hopes that only you all can fulfil her wishes. But from what I see, you are unable make her wishes reality.'

As he lightly shoved away Naegi-kun's hand which was grabbing the hem of his shirt, Kamukura-kun coldly glanced at Naegi-kun and I before turning his back to us to walk away briskly.'

'Nanami's wish, is it to stop... no, save the current Hinata-senpai?'

'...Maybe?'

Although his voice did not imply confirmation or denial, Kamukura-kun halted his steps at this sentence.

'Then, Kamukura also feels that Hinata-kun cannot continue like this, so you're helping Nanami?'

'No. Although Hinata-kun's actions will gradually force himself to a dead end, Hinata's choices do not matter to me. I also don't think that you can change anything.'

'T-then, you're doing this behind Hinata-senpai's back to...'

'Nanami will show you all the truth. Regardless of whether you accept it or not, I think that it does not hurt for you to understand a little more. In other words, never mind Hinata avoiding letting you know, in my perspective, you are more obligated that him to know and face the truth.'

'What...?'

'On that island in the past, I told you before.  Hinata's objectives are my objectives. But, I will use different methods than him to achieve it.'

Kamukura-kun who did not turn around and had his back face us when saying this, was actually a little scary. Whether it is his voice  or tone, I could not find any difference with it compared to previously. However, there is a certain coldness that I could not help but feel it under my skin.

'Hinata insists on taking the burden alone. Even though my view and Nanami's may differ, but we think that it should be shared by everyone-- just that.'


	11. Chapter 11

After knowing that we would not get any more answers no matter how much we ask, Naegi-kun and I could only watch Kamukura-kun leave.

Although I felt a compulsion to chase after and stalk him, I resisted it after considering that I would most likely die a meaningless death. Even if I do not feel that anything in my life is worth treasuring, my experiences should be used to accumulate luck and I would not allow myself to die meaninglessly.

...Also, I felt that I would really be killed by him as I looked at his back.

Meh... after returning to the division, I was still almost killed by Kirigiri-san and Togami-kun.

From an objective point of view, I did abduct Naegi-kun when going out so I caused him to be in danger (written as danger but read as Kamukura) even though it could have happened due to twice the amount of luck. With Kamukura-kun achieving him objective of sending something over, this occasion could have been also caused by his 'luck' too.

Then why was the 'luck' in this meeting had the price of 'stepping into the hunting trap', 'dropping takoyaki' and 'sent into the air by a flying kick' all went on me out of all three people, which meant that I had the worst luck? Or maybe was it because I was looking forward most to this 'coincidental' event so most of the burden went to me?

Hmm, a talent that I used to think was trash, looks like it was something I could ponder about.

'...Are you listening? Komaeda-san.'

'Huh? What? Sorry, I didn't hear anything.'

'......'

Because I was distracted, I did not hear what Kirigiri-san was saying, so I lowered my head in apology. Although I wanted to show my remorse most through this, but it ended up with her repeating her plans disappointedly.

From the earlier conversation, it seems that I was being criticised? Hmm, this kind of attitude is bad, even though I feel that there is no need to listen attentively.

'Alright, I have done enough reflection with Naegi-kun. Then, can we see the contents of that thing?'

On the way back to the division, I had confirmed that what Kamukura-kun passed to Naegi-kun was a thumbdrive. Of course, its contents could not be seen using one's eyes. Considering what he said, it seemed like some kind of program that could enable communication with that 'Nanami'? Although I don't understand much of these things, since Kamukura-kun could recover the corrupted data of the division in around an hour plus... Oh, speaking about this, he said that all the data was recovered yet left 30% in a spoilt state. In the disc, there was another program and a text file with only one sentence. The contents was 'Too boring. Recover the rest by yourself.'. For safety sake, the wire from the computer was removed and the program was installed. In the end, it was a software that could recover corrupted data (and it seemed specialised for this set of data). Souda-kun spent a day to figure out the software's capabilities and spent another day to run it before all the data was recovered.

'If you're still worried, you could try it on a computer without network access. But I don't think they really want to plant a virus after their other actions.'

In other words, from a strategic point of view, the 15th Division was not worth it to attack. If Hinata-kun did not need to settle his feelings, he probably did not need to come here at all.

With Kamukura-kun's bad track record of bringing a virus into the New World Program, many people were suspicious of everything he brought over. However, with his powerful attack display that day, even if his actions were any suspicious, there would be meaningless to suspect anything.  If there was to be a counterattack against him, then it would mean that battle was his interest. No matter how Kamukura-kun's actions seem difficult to understand, he seems to be a person of rationality and not of dedication... probably.

Although Hinata-kun's true objective is not revealed yet, a kind of strong drive could be sensed from him. Conversely, even though Kamukura-kun was more aggressive in his actions, no agenda could be felt from him. If rationality was taken away, there would be no way to perceive Kamukura-kun's actions... at least this is how it seems to me. I do not know if Naegi-kun who sees Kamukura-kun as a three year old child will have any other opinions.

Meh, opinions of trash like me do not matter. Compared to this...

'I'll say this first. I'm alright if you want the content to be reviewed first or to gather everyone to see it. But I will not accept the content being concealed from me while only the people from te 77th and 78th batches who retained their memories have access to this content. At this stage, do not expect to hide things from us.'

'...Whether this content will be passed on to everyone, it will be decided after the content is verified.'

'Then, at least let me be present during verification. Nothing will change if someone like me knows. Just pretend that I don't exist.'

Huh? Why was a look of 'letting someone like you know is the most troublesome thing' coming my way? Did I ever know some kind of truth, was a mastermind, and leaked out any information before?

Then I should show more of my sincere attitude then...

'Hmm, if it's about us knowing information about the true despair party, you don't have to worry about that?'

'...What do you mean?'

Anyway, taking Naegi-kun with me outside was to also confirm this suspicion. Then because Kamukura-kun appearing suddenly, so I did not manage to ask anything. But now when looking at the masked cool expressions of Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san with Naegi-kun's wavering expression that he did not manage to hide, then the guess must be most likely correct.

'Because you all kept concealing the truth from us so much, it's because you're worried that we of the true despair party will remember things, right?'

'...?!'

Ah, I failed? I tried my best to squueze my most sincere smile to say this. But the audience's response seems that I had scared them? I did not have this intention at all...

'Nah, I never remembered anything.' Before anyone spoke, I gave a denial first. 'It just came out from my mouth. The original 'incident leading to to the use of the New World Program to carry out treatment' explanation seems very strong. Also, besides my prosthetic left arm, everyone else did not have any external injuries. It does not look like something that had cuased a lot of damage. Also, if it was only for the sake of our consciousnesses to awaken, there would be no need to replace two years of our memories with artificial data.'

'You... From the beginning...'

'Yeah, from the beginning I knew that it was a lie. But I did not know the reason for deceiving me and I had no interest in pursuing the truth. Ahaha, I just did not feel motivated to do anything at all, so I conserved the energy needed to think.'

Actually, I was still in that state until a week ago. It was like I was entirely burnt into ashes and even the hope that I loved most could only move me a little before I reverted back into lethargy. I did not want to think about anything and did not want to do anything. That was, until the day I met Hinata-kun by chance.

Honestly speaking, that was an ordinary conversation. It was so ordinary that I could not remember any content of it. But that meeting seems to have activated some kind of invisible switch and made me feel alive. I was no longer just looking at everything as if it was through a screen, I was standing in this real space.

Therefore, I could finally begin consider everything around myself.

If receiving treatment due to the incident was a lie, then there must be a reason needed to fabricate the lie. By pondering over the original purpose of the New World Program and us being suspects of the despair party, these two points were easily connected. And knowing that Hinata-kun was a partner from them combined with how we woke up on the island, this definitely confirmed that we were the despair party. However, other evidence proved that we were not the despair party and the answer became confuddled.

According to the explanation by Togami-kun and company, Kamukura-kun should not have the 'Hinata Hajime' personality before entering the New World Program. Then assuming that Kamukura-kun wanted to let the Hinata Hajime personality reawaken through using the New World Program, his intention would be to let people notice that he was part of the despair party. (I do not know if this is the truth. I should ask him.) Then he would use the New World Program to carry out the rehabilitation plan and at the same time, anticipate the possibility of being killed due to being pursued as part of the despair party. Then this should be the reason why there was evidence that we were and were not part of the despair party which appeared suddenly. Although I am not sure of Kamukura-kun's thought process and actions then, but from logical deduction, if it was him, he could do such complicated information manipulation.

...If it was Kamukura-kun, he might even be a phantom member of the despair party and the Future Foundation. I just feel that if it was him, it would not be too difficult for him to spread information within any organisation... even if this intuition was baseless.

Meh, for what reason did Kamukura-kun would pretend to be part of the despair party or is actually part of the despair party, I could not deduce anything from whatever available information and I do not find it strange. Most importantly, he was with us and was also judged as part of the despair party... As the creation of the Hope Cultivation Project, Kamukura-kun could not reveal his identity of 'reserve course student Hinata Hajime'. For him to act as an ordinary student would be too difficult and if there was even one reserve course student, he would very likely be eliminated when suspected to be part of the despair party. The best option would be for him to be associated with the true despair party's Super High School Level geniuses to conceal his existence and be destroyed with the batch of geniuses... But from the situation of the people on the island then, it seems that the possibility of the 78th batch students led by Naegi-kun, had brought us into the New World Program. In other words, on whether this preparation has gone to waste, Naegi-kun would not care whether the target of rescue were normal students or geniuses.

From the perspective that everything was planned, whether Kamukura-kun is part of the despair party or not, he would choose to be among the real despair party to conceal his existence to increase the success rate of his plan. This also means that us who entered the New World Program with him, were the real despair party.

...Anyway, this explains why the real despair party was inactive for the past year.

Although the above are circumstantial evidence and non-conclusive speculation, even if the current students do not seem to have shadows of the despair party, I still do not think that my deduction is wrong.

Meh, the expressions of the trio in front of me show that my deduction was indeed accurate.

'Ah, don't worry. I'm not saying that I will oppose the Future Foundation because because I have discovered this kind of truth. Actually, I have no idea why I ended up being part of the despair party. It's just that if you are using the 'despair party' reason to hide so many things from us, I want to say, then don't worry about me.'

'...Komaeda-senpai, you... when you were considering the possibility... Hmm... That...'

Naegi-kun seemed to be unable to think of how to word himself to ask his question tactfully. From how he was disturbed but clearly expressing some kind of determined gaze, he should be hoping that he could trust me and chose to trust me. But for some reason, he could not ease his uneasiness.

...Did I commit some kind of catastrophic crime before?

'I'll ask directly. Komaeda Nagito, after discovering this truth, how are you going to face it?'

Togami-kun helped to ask the hesitant Naegi-kun's question with a sharp tone. That gaze which would not allow any acting to happen, it was honestly a little scary... Meh, to talk about true scariness, it is Kirigiri-san who did not say a word but carefully observed my every single case, breath and heartbeat. That gaze which seems to be dissecting me is even creepier.

'Even if you ask me... Since everyone can't see the madness of the despair party, then we should have passed despair's ordeal successfully and achieved our hope, right? Although I don't know why I don't feel any of hope's light at all, until now, it is impossible for me to be unsatisfied for people who have surpassed their own despair... Eh? I should be admiring them instead, shouldn't I? Actually, there's nothing to admire...'

The geniuses who had went through despair's ordeal and gotten back their hope, they should be the ideal people for me to respect... Is it because my emotions lack something due to how I have not completely recovered from my burn out syndrome?

'Anyway, I don't plan to change anything due the that truth. At least, for now I have never thought about what I needed to do at all.'

'...Just 'for now'?'

'I cannot guarantee things in the future. Even if I did, it would be useless.'

'......'

'Whether you concealed the truth until now is in order to protect us, I do not wish to see you use this reason conceal the truth that we have the right and obligation to know. If Hinata-kun was one of our comrades, we all have the need to know why is he doing this and how to stop him.'

Oh, I lied. Using 'us' as a pronoun was just to show more assertion. Honestly, I do not have such a strong team identity. But to focus on the camaderie between comrades of the 78th batch should be effective, right?

'...Komaeda-senpai, before looking at the content of the thumbdrive...' Naegi-kun seemed to have some kind of intention as he looked directly at me. 'Just for a bit, can I talk about the past?'

'If it is about the 'truth' then, then I'm all ears.'

'...Naegi.'

'Togami-san, Kirigiri-san, when Hinata-senpai appeared, we already had many things that we could not hide-- such as Komaeda-senpai finding out the truth by himself.' Even when Togami-san and Kirigiri-san used their gaze to stop him, Naegi-kun continued talking. 'Although our intial intention was to protect everyone, but, this could also because our goal was always... Komaeda-senpai who noticed the truth earliest, this could be a chance for us.'

'A chance to announce the truth?'

'If Komaeda-senpai could know the truth of what happened on the island and is able to accept it... If Komaeda-senpai can accept it, the others should be able to accept it, shouldn't they?'

So I had one of the lowest psychological stress capabilities? Meh, I was already trash in the first place compared to the Super High School Level geniuses, so there was not much to compare.

'Then I'm ready for it, Naegi-kun.'

'That... Where should I start? Hmm, it began when the Foundation found 10 survivors from Hope's Peak Academy...'

Afterwards, I finally received the truth of the gap in my memory through Naegi-kun's explanation which was filled with sentimentality and melancholy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I'm very busy with internship and other fandom things to translate, but I can safely say that you can expect a chapter of around 3K words each at least once a month from now on.  
> This fic is super long and sometimes I want to give up on translating it but then I remember that I love it a lot and want to share it.  
> As usual, thank you for reading and following it!


	12. Chapter 12

'...To be honest, the choices that the Enoshima AE and us gave you all were very despairing. I also felt that it would be expected if people wanted to avoid reality by choosing to 'retain'. But besides trying my best to encourage everyone, I could not do anything else...... In the end, it was still Hinata-senpai's resolute declaration of wanting to create the future, that spurred everyone to choose the forced shutdown option...'

Naegi's description should be much simpler than the actual situation, but it could still convey the despair and how he would not give up hope then.

'......'

'Unbelievable' and 'of course' were the contrasting feelings to the same truth which confused my crappy expressive ability.

How to say it... The truth from Naegi-kun revealed was mostly within my expectations, but it felt like an unreal thing that I could not accept. Even if I had deduced the truth that we were the true despair party, even if I thought that I could accept this kind of forgotten past, when I heard the truth...

Trash like us, or more accurately, me, are alright with anything. Anyway, those geniuses of the 77th batch who had lost their memories, all did not overcome despair and pick up hope by themselves? Ah, it was actually very easy to come up with this point with some specific pondering, probably because I was subconsciously avoiding it? In the end, everyone including me are just dogs who lost to despair? Not just losing once by becoming Super High School Level Despair and her underlings, and having a GAME OVER when toyed again with the AE she left after her death?

If it was just me, it would be fine. According to Naegi-kun's explanation, out of the fifteen students who entered the virtual space, only fourteen of them were Super High School Level geniuses. (Excluding me there were only thirteen.) In the end, ten people and an AE died meaninglessly in the mutual killing game?

That was the existence which I fervently believed to be hopeful?

'......Komaeda-senpai!'

Just then, Naegi-kun's voice dragged me from back to reality.

'You all did lose to despair, and in some way you did not overcome it yourself but were deceived in order to forget despair...but!'

'Naegi...-kun...'

'But, even if it is like this, you can still start anew! Whether you failed or despaired, you can see hope as long as you start anew, right?!'

'Maybe...'

As I unconsciously nodded my head to what Naegi-kun tried to say, I actually did not understand why he tried so hard to persuade me.

Really, was that so?

In the end, it only proves that the hope I believe in and the hope that Naegi-kun believes are different since the beginning.

But seeing that Naegi-kun's hope indeed defeated despair while I completely lost to despair twice... Then I was the one who was wrong?

'Also, everyone worked very hard to rescue their companions... Hinata-senpai, Sonia-senpai, Kuzuryuu-senpai, Souda-senpai, Owari-senpai and even Kamukura. Everyone put in a lot of effort to find out how to save their companions and were touched to tears when they succeeded... Although by then Hinata-senpai and Kamukura had left, but they were the ones who worked most fervently... Anyway, the fact that you all managed to wake up, to live and start anew, this brings a lot of hope to many people!'

'......'

The hope that Naegi-kun talked about was really different from what I understood.

But......

Suddenly, Naegi-kun's handphone rang.

'Eh...? Withheld...?'

Surely Naegi-kun will be a little suspicious of how the phone rang at such a convenient timing? Upon hearing him mumble like this, Togami-kun took the first step to snatch his handphone to answer the call. Before Togami-kun could open his mouth to ask, we could not help but hold our breath.

Firstly, a series of soft sneezing sounds came our from the handphone.

...That sound seems kind of familiar.

Having missed his chance to speak, Togami-kun could only quietly wait for the sneezing and blowing nose sounds to end while probably trying his best to resist the urge to hurl the handphone.

'The one who answered the phone isn't the luckster, right? Meh, even if it is the young master, it's fine. Anyway, do not hang up before I finish speaking.'

The voice that came was also quite familiar except that it sounded more nasal.

Hmm, apparently sleeping outdoors in this season could cause colds.

'Don't waste time and feelings preaching to that weirdo. Even if you're trying to maintain a normal life, he will trouble you. Compared to this...'

'...! Why do you know what was said here earlier?!'

Hmm, Togami-kun, although truthfully I also do not really mind how I am being addressed, but to be overlooked after being mentioned like that... It can't be that you agree?

'A voice recording bug was put into the luckster's hoodie. Don't ask me something as boring as this.'

By right, one would apologetically say something like 'I'm sorry for being so careless.', but this person really has no sense of violation.

Anyway, his agenda for going to this area includes planting a bug? Even without mentioning whether there was a need to do something like that, if this was really the case, why reveal the existence of the bug in less than half a day when nobody has noticed it?

...It can't be just testing the voice recorder, right?

'But after finding it, help me destroy it. Whether it is the range or battery life, it did not reach the expected performance so it was a failure.'

Really... was he delivering something for that 'Nanami' and testing his bug at the same time or was he testing his bug and also delivering at the same time? Or did he do the two above things because he just wanted to eat takoyaki from the roadside stall and it was convenient to do those things? I hope that the last one was the case, then I can go to that place every day in the future to lurk so that I might meet him again.

Ah,  Naegi-kun clumsily found what seemed to be the voice recording bug with Kirigiri-san's help. It looks like a handmade gadget, could it be really Kamukura-kun's personal creation?

'Kamukura Izuru! What are you planning?!'

'You don't understand anything up to now, young master. But it does not matter. Anyway, do not interrupt until I finish. I just took cold medication and I was about to sleep earlier.'

'You......'

Even if he was an almighty person who possessed all talents, it seems that there is no special technique to deal with colds except for drinking more water and resting more...

'Are you alright? If you have a fever, it's best to see a doctor.'

'If there's a fever, I'll get Hinata out and let me sleep-- But this is also the problem. I've also said this before, the truth that Nanami wants to tell all of you, is something that Hinata-kun wants to hide at all costs.'

'Hinata-senpai, he...'

'Although I can say that earlier on he was more tired so he might sleep for quite long this time, even I am not sure of when he will wake up. My memories and Hinata's are common, so I cannot hide whatever I did today from him. If you do not take any action before he notices, you will have no more chances to know that truth.'

'Ehh?!'

This kind of time limit should be made known when we first meet? But maybe to Kamukura, us procrastinating on checking out the thumbdrive was something he did not expect.

'That's it... Achoo! Feeling dizzy, so I'll hang up.'

'W-wait...'

As expected, Kamukura would not care about other people's requests and the conversation came to a halt after he hung up.

Even if it was just a phone call, this so-called super Super High School Level existence made typhoon-like shocks. Although it was very hard to describe it using words, in the end, nobody spoke in the next three minutes

Anyway, every appearance of Kamukura-kun made one re-evaluate the situation.

'Hmm... Let's find a computer to look at the contents of the thumbdrive?'

When the silence reached five minutes, Naegi-kun made this suggestion and everyone agreed with it.


	13. Chapter 13

To prevent unnecessary chaos, it was finally decided that the decision to inform the others about the thumbdrive's content would be made after a select few viewed it. This 'select few' would be the cental trio of the 78th batch, the ones who retained their memories from the 77th batch and me. It was a total of eight people so saying that it was just a few was a little strange.

Unknowingly, it was already after dinner time. But even Hanamura-kun's cooking could not be more appealing than the contents of the thumbdrive-- even so everyone still found their own excuses and brought food from the canteen back to their rooms to eat. Tonight's menu was hamburgers which helped a lot. Could it be a bit of good luck?

Because eight people squeezing in front of a computer would be too troublesome, the projector in the meeting room was used in the end. Although using the meeting room had the possibility of being seen by the others... Fortunately, the members who would work beyond their working hours were known, so one would not need to worry about the rest who would work extra hours randomly.

'......'

As everyone watched silently, Naegi-kun places the thumbdrive into the USB port of the laptop and opened the files in the thumbdrive.

'......'

And then... I do not know what the others see, but what I saw was an unidentifiable image on the screen.

'E-everyone~~ Long time no see, everyone seems to be touched~~'

...That unknown entity was probably trying its best to express its feelings as it cried and blew its nose. If my eyes and brain was functioning well, then no matter what, it seems to be...

'...Monokuma?'

'EH EH EH EH EH?! W-Where???!!!'

Why were they so surprised? Isn't it you?

'...Hmm, this voice which seems unreliable and make others angry... Is it Monomi?'

'Strike! I'm still a teacher, a teacher! Although I could not help much... I've been forgotten in a year by the students, I'm so upset...'

'No, you should look at your appearance first...'

Although I was doubting whether the bear-shaped thing had a function of 'looking at itself', the following shrill scream answered this so I did not have to worry.

'Uwaaahhh?! W-why did I become like this?!'

'Ask yourself! Everyone here were almost shocked to death!'

According to Naegi-kun, if Monokuma was Enoshima's AE which was an artificial hologram in the virtual space, then it would of course leave a shadow in Souda-kun's heart. Also, from how the fake Monokuma made people react interestingly, maybe...

'...Kamukura-kun's prank?'

Although it was hard to imagine that forever expressionless and unfathomable Super Super High School Level person wanted to see commotion, but if he was really mentally three years old like what Naegi-kun thinks, he could have done something like this? 

...Nope, apparently I still cannot accept the image of a pranking child. Even thinking about it slightly gives me the chills.

'Eh? I-It can't be he noticed that the extra phone bills was due to me secretly using his phone data to read teenage chick lit...? Uwah, Uwaaahhh, this is bad...'

How much data can novel reading take... Meh, maybe it's an illustrated book or a paid website.

'The jokes end here. Usami, so the contents of the thumbdrive was your program... Before that, can you change that appearance?'

It seems that Togami-kun could not stand it. Whether the majority could not stand seeing the image of Monokuma or the image of a crying Monokuma, probably only oneself will know. But I belong to the latter group. 

'Sorry--!!! Please wait for a while--!!!'

The computer switched to a code window. After around a minute, the image on the screen changed to that of a rabbit wearing a very lacy dress...

Even with my own sense of aesthetics, it looked much better than Monokuma.

'I-I'm sorry, everyone. Then I'll say hello again... Long time no see, everyone.'

'Yeah, long time no see. It's great to see that Monomi was recovered completely without any damage.'

Although Naegi-kun (and only him) really answered, it seemed like he was establishing a normal conversation. From my point of view, I still completely did not understand how would this develop. Besides Naegi-kun, everyone's expressions looked like they tasted mustard while eating chocolate. And I do not know why nobody made eye contact with me.

'Ahh, everyone grew so much. It's only been a year since we last met but it seems like more than three years... Although someone's appearance seems unchanged...'

'Shut up you useless rabbit! Cut your nonsense and get to the main topic!'

'Calm down, Kuzuryuu-kun, do you want it to shut up or continue speaking?'

And there's no need for you to be that upset. You can see Naegi-kun is also depressed until his ahoge drooped and now Kirigiri-san is lightly patting his shoulder to cheer him up. Regarding this common trait between you two, that is something naturally super despairing that even I do not want you to have any more hope for.

How to say it, if there is no sign of growing any taller at this age... it's not going to happen?

'T-that, I'm sorry.... As a teacher, I hurt my student's soul...'

Does this rabbit get what is it here for... Meh, from its nonsense, I could approximately guess its source, so at least it was not a waste of time for me,

'Teacher' and 'looks like we never met in three years' huh... So this was the one who appeared in the New World Program when we entered the New World Program for the first time. Who designed the teacher character anyway? This made me worry about the 'Nanami' who I have not seen before, would it be someone that is fit for normal conversation? But if that AE is designed as a student character, it would at least have a human appearance right... However, there's no problem with the teacher's deisgn being an animal puppet?

Hmm... Anyway, my last memory of a teacher character in the virtual space was the sculpture of the first headmaster of the school, 'Kamukura Izuru' (something like those busts often seen in schools). Everyone took turns to press the button whether to choose graduation or retain... Come to think of it, it can't be another prank of Kamukura-kun...

'Stop wasting time. Usami, are you what the thing that Kamukura brought?'

'Ah, y-yeah... That, I'm not an object...'

It's an object, right?

'Then, what is her objective?'

'Ah, because my data is linked with Nanami, so we can both contact each other. Please wait for a while, Nanami also wants to meet everyone.'

So this was a method to contact Nanami... But why in such a roundabout way? Can't a simple phone call or web conferene do? From Kamukura-kun's call just now, he seems to have information on all members of the 15th Division... or maybe even the whole Future Foundation. Being in contact with Nanami and this side lacking information was something to his advantage, as long as that side took initiative to contact here, there should be no reason to not reply...

Whether is it Kamukura-kun or the fact that we have not met Nanami-san, why would they use this roundabout and unguaranteed success rate way of contacting? Also, how are they going to retrieved the program of this rabbit after it finishes its job of contacting? Unless it could be just dumped at this division as a mascot?

...Or maybe besides contacting us, this rabbit had some other mission?

'Ah, I've connected. Nanami-chan, it's here~ Send the image here~'

Before I could think of an answer, the preperations for meeting that 'Nanami' seems to be done. I stopped pondering and focused on the screen of the projector instead.

The image of the girl who appeared on the screen, can she answer all of our questions?


	14. Chapter 14

'It's been a while. Good evening, everyone.'

The rabbit image disappeared and what looked like a very cute girl appeared on the screen. If I did not know earlier that she was an AE, I would have thought that I was talking to a real person via webcam. That girl who looked weak but had a determined gaze. To be honest, she had way more presence than most girls I met in reality.

Anyway, I was relieved that it was something that could handle normal conversation. Although I am always said to be someone who is very hard to strike normal conversation with.

'I'm sorry, but I can't see everyone from here. May I ask who is present? Do I need to introduce myself?'

 Because we were all looking at the screen connected to the projector, she probably cannot see all of us on both sides of the table from the computer's camera. Just now, did that rabbit only see some of the people and thought that everyone was present? But what was different about her from that rabbit was how this girl queried politely yet with confidence in her tone, as if she could guess who was here even without seeing.

Meh, besides me, everyone here are students who knew the truth of what happened on the island. This grouping was indeed easy to predict.

'There's no need to. Everyone but one person knows you and you can overlook him. Go straight to the point.'

'Togami-kun! Using that kind of tone on Nanami who we had difficulty meeting...'

'It's alright, Sonia-san. Although it's been a long time and I have too many things I want to say to everyone, but due to shortage of time, it's better if I skip the sentimentality and start from the more important things.'

...So I was naturally being overlooked?

Meh, indeed I was the only exception, so I better keep quiet and become the air. Anyway, hearing the content later was more important, so it would be best if I do not talk anyhow and affect everyone's mood. If I really got chased out now, it would not be funny at all.

'Hmm, where should I start... Firstly, I'm here to meet everyone today, to request everyone... to save Hinata.'

Although this has been heard before from Kamukura-kun, but hearing it from Nanami-san felt weirdly shocking.

She was so sincerely pleading and it made one feel that if she was a real person, she could even kneel to plead everyone without any reservations. This undisputedly purely sincere plea definitely had no traces of lies.

Even if she was just a personality created from a program, maybe she was always looking after and trying her best to protect him. And this unwavering will was conveyed to everyone present.

'Hinata-senpai... he had some kind of huge burden so he...'

'Nanami, do you know about it? Hinata's true motive, and why is he doing this...'

'Yeah. Because I know, so that's why I'm pleading everyone.'

Nanami-san's smile looked a little sad. Also, it was an expression that made one even sadder if they looked at it.

'So being aganst the Future Foundation was not his true motive? What he really wants to do, his true enemy target is...'

'Making the Future Foundation his enemy was only part of end result, not the objective itself. In other words, he is just trying out his own limits. About his real motive...' After some hesitation, Nanami-san took a deep breath and when she spoke again, she changed topic slightly. 'Naegi-kun, I heard that before Hinata-kun left, he left you a question, right?'

'Eh? Yeah, he did. Sorry, even up til now, I still...'

'"Why would a lone girl seeking despair can drag the whole world into despair?" Regarding this question, Hinata's answer is the reason for his current actions.'

...This was a surprising occasion to bring up this topic. So this was the quesion that Hinata-kun left Naegi before going missing? Why was Enoshima Junko able to create the Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident in the History of All Mankind?

For now, let's not discuss if the meaning of this question after Enoshima's death... No, this question itself should show that Hinata-kun did not agree with the basic explanation of 'because she is despair herself'. From his point of view, was there some cause factor more important than Enoshima  which caused despair to be prolonged?

And from what Hinata-kun said that day which made Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san speechless, at least those two could guess the answer?

According to what Hinata-kun has said, that was the answer that Naegi-kun was unable to discover while Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san never noticed until now... Then, what kind of answer is it?

'That question... the answer that Hinata got was...?'

'...Because the beliefs that made people despair had penetrated into their hearts while Enoshima only noticed this and used it to her advantage. Super High School Despair was only the spark that started it all, not the true beginning.'

Beliefs... that can make people despair?

It's like... I get this very bad feeling...

If I continue to listen, all my actions until now and my motivations will be completely denied... it was a sense of foreboding that feels like everything will crumble under my feet...

Nanami-san seemed to also hesitate, but after a while, she continued speaking.

'"Talent is hope"...This belief that Hope's Peak Academy planted into everyone, is the culprit that led so many people to easily succumb to despair.'


	15. Chapter 15

'...Eh?'

After a long silence, until Naegi-kun's question broke the silence, I realised the truth that made everyone hold their breath.

Everyone all stopped breathing unknowing... and only Naegi-kun showed a normal confusion.

'That... Sorry, what does it mean?'

...Only Naegi-kun was not extremely shocked? And not just my mind went blank while besides Naegi-kun, everyone had the same reaction?

So that was it... Haha, so this was the reason that Naegi-kun could become 'hope', as said by Hinata-kun...

'The concept that 'talent will become hope', what's wrong with it?'

Naegi-kun's reaction being different, to him, it would be why everyone around him was so shocked. Hmm, this is natural. Because he could not comprehend that concept, so he is 'hope'.

"This is not wrong by itself. Talent can indeed become some kind of hope, but Hope's Peak Acadmy has overused this idea.'

'Overused...?'

' "Only talent is hope"-- Actually, this kind of belief was formed.'

'...Eh?'

It was like that... "Talent is hope" and "Only talent is hope" sound very similar, but their meaning is completely different. Hope Peak's Academy declared the former as their belief and what Naegi-kun believed was probably also the former. But in reality, the actions of the school, including most of the students, believed in he latter.

Naegi-kun believed in how 'talent are accessories of people' too naturally (but it is the actual case), so he never realised that whether one had talent or not would lead to despair and could not go into despair due to such reasons. But in reality, more people, or most people understood that belief had all...

'Only talent is hope', this means that personalities of talented people are mere accessories to talents, so they are nothing without talents. For ordinary people who had no talents, they did not even possess the only thing that would let others acknowledge them and their existences are denied.

Unknowingly having this idea planted in their minds, they find themselves believing in something so despairing, it would be surprising if nobody was surprised.

At least for my case, it was the principle I lived by and it was shattered in a moment.

I was more fervent than anyone in believing in the 'hope' of the talented ones and thought that only the chosen talented ones possessed true hope. However, 'talent' and 'hope' are not things that can be labeled? The talented people being worthless without their talents, did I really believe that?

'The result of Hope Peak's Academy's belefs, a fine example would be Kamukura.'

Nanami-san was still trying her best to maintain a calm tone to speak. Even if I already understood what she wanted to convey, I was so mindblown that I could only listen dumbfoundedly.

'Kamukura's 'talent specialisation', is basically enhancing his 'comprehension' and 'analysis' abilities. This is because the researchers believed that regardless of what talent it is, the root of it is comprehension and grasping concepts. Innate talented people can pick up things even without understanding a single theory while ordinary people have to put in a certain amount of talent to reach an expert's level but will never reach the level of talented people. Therefore, if an ordinary person can have the ability to use talent to achieve the same standard as talented people with 'innate comprehension', they could be ranked the same.'

'Hmm...is that so?'

'Anyway, the Hope Cultivation Project was conducted based on this hypothesis... this should be right since Kamukura said it himself.'

'But if it's only enhancing 'comprehension' and 'analysis'...'

'Naegi-kun, when you are playing a game, what would be on your mind usually?'

To Naegi-kun, who was the only one capable of conversation now, Nanami-san showed a gentle but full of sorrow smile.

'Eh? Whether the content is interesting or boring, too difficult or just right, graphics, music... something like that?'

'Then if I just let you see the programming code of the game?'

'...It's impossible for me to tell what is it.'

'Kamukura's specialised ability, is it this?'

'Yes, it is so... what do you mean?'

'Because when he comes into contact with anything, he can immediately do a complete analysis. When you are looking at a game's graphics, listening to the music and enjoying the game plot, Kamukura can only see the game's code to understand the game's structure.'

'That is...'

'Not just that, because his ability turns everything into objective data, he cannot neither understand nor do subjective things like emotions. Happiness, sadness, anger, these exist for him to analyse and they do not feel real to him.

'......'

'To comprehend and understand everything of things, for all the talents, Kamukura had lost the ability to connect and know about human emotion. Even if he can predict emotions of others through information, to some extent he understand them. But he will never experience what emotions are-- and never understand the existence of human emotions. This is the successful work with the name of Kamukura Izuru.'

'...In other words... to the Academy...'

'As long as there is talent... everything else doesn't matter... No, it is not even needed. Kamukura, whose humanity is even lower than an AE and more like an AI, was considered a perfect experiment as a result. This was what Hinata told me that time.'

(t/n: AE is Alter Ego which is what Nanami is and Chihiro after his death: a program that seems to be quite human. AI is artificial intelligence, a machine with intelligence.)

...an AI? That seems to be an exaggeration. Even when Nanami was imitating Hinata's tone, there was no coldness felt from there.

Anyway, let's not care about their opinion of Kamukura and look at the truth objectively. The result of the Hope Cultivation Project, Kamukura Izuru, ended up to be an AI with a human shell since he does not possess humanity. Despite that, he was still considered a perfect experiment result... That is the true form of the view of Hope's Peak Academy.

The idea that 'talent is everything', had become a deep rooted belief unknowingly. Therefore, no matter whether is it the talented people or ordinary people, they became susceptible to falling into despair. Because no matter how much value are one's possessions, as long as they do not have talent, they do not have the right to anything. The talented people would grab onto the spider web of  'talent' desperately, denying everything about themselves besides talent. Ordinary people who do not even have the spider web can only look up to the talented people who climb up with the spider web. With everyone not seeing any other paths, everyone not believing that there are other paths-- at a time like this, Enoshima Junko cut the last spider web.

So... Super High School Level Despair is just the spark and the environment she had prepared much earlier to make people fall into despair easily, is Hope's Peak Academy itself... right? 

Is this the conclusion of Kamukura-kun's analysis of the despair incident, or is it Hinata-kun's conclusion as a bystander? No matter which one is it, I cannot deny that at least I could not find any point to object against.

From some angle, all the people who unconsciously believed that 'talent is everything', are all victims of despair and at the same time, the biggest acoomplices in spreading despair.

And the place where most such people gathered, is Hope's Peak Academy.

Not talking about others, I myself is the best example.

'...But, there were really other paths existing, right? Even if they don't see, even if they don't believe, the paths exist, don't they?'

Naegi-kun...?

'Hmm, I'm sorry. It looks like I've said something something big... But the paths do exist, so as long as one works hard to let everyone realise this, it would solve the problem?' Naegi-kun raised his hand and placed it on his face, as if covering a blush, while he thought hard about what to say.

'Ah, that, actually I'm still unable to imagine how the idea of 'people are just accessories of talent' is like. Like this, I can only speak while overlooking everyone's feelings... B-but! Even if this kind of thinking leads to despair, to turn it around by finding this reason, by changing mindsets from now on, we can overcome despair, can't we? It might be difficult... No, it is definitely difficult, but at least, something can be done if we don't give up, right?'

Compared to those words themselves, at that moment everyone stared at how he tried his to express his opinion. This is the main key to everyone in the room somehow regaining composure and their sense of reality.

Humans are such strange creatures. Clearly they are a pessimistic existence even without admitting it. Yet if one is denied by others, they would feel that they have disappeared. If they are noticed and accepted by others, they would feel that they can continue living. 

'...Hmm, it's just Naegi. You really say some big words.'

Togami-kun, the action of pushing your glasses is extra. From anyone's point of view, they would only feel that your arrogance disease has relapsed.

'Meh, this is really what Naegi would say.'

Owari-san resumed her composure before giving this comment and got a wry smile from Kirigiri-san. It was quite a gentle wry smile together with a nod of agreement.

'As expected of the true Super High School Level Hope!'

Sonia-san also smiled elegantly to concur. Although that smile was masked with some darkness, together with her strength, she should be able to overcome difficulties and stand up again.

... It's been a long time since I've seen the blinding light of hope, although I was not moved due to my mixed feelings.

Or rather, before being touched, I kept feeling that there was something more important which was not resolved...

'Then, after finding out that Hope's Peak is the true culprite of the despair incident, what is Hinata-kun's decision?'

...Oh no, I unknowingly said out what I was thinking. I'm so sorry for spoiling the touching atmosphere, I'm indeed trash that does not deserve to be together with such esteemed people with the light of hope...

Meh, forget it, I already did it, and I might as well just ask everything I want to confirm now.

'If Hope's Peak is pinned as the enemy, choosing to oppose the Future Foundation would be a given... but I think that Hinata-kun does not mind the Foundation itself much. All his opposing actions are just to stop the Foundation in order to prevent any decisions to rebuild the school? However, this is not what he wanted to specially come to announce to everyone here, so maybe from the start we should try to request for cooperation?'

Luckily, the glances at me were basically of shock and pondering so nobody wanted to chase me out because I could not read the mood and spoilt the atmosphere.

'Hinata-kun's goal is not just Hope's Peak Acadmy? Or we should say that this objective is like this, but at the same time he is also carrying some other burden-- which is the real reason why Nanami-san came to ask the 'enemy' to save him?'

Thinking about that day when Hinata-kun lost control and shouted at Kirigiri-san, I purposely took note of Kirigiri-san's response-- As I expected, she was shaking slightly.

As my line of sight went back to the projector screen, I also saw the gaze of Naegi-kun who was next to Kirigiri-san. It looks like he noticed, or rather, he knows more information about Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun as well as knows them better. He should notice that earlier than me.

Without the need to be enemies, and still having some sentiments for his former comrades, Hinata-kun still chose to oppose... The reason he left all his comrades but brought Nanami-san's data away... and the reason for choosing the reserve course and future students as comrades...

Also, the reason why he showed hatred towards Kirigiri-san...

Those require other truths to be explained, and would remain mysteries for now.

But there is one point which I think I'm not wrong.

Hinata-kun is probably carrying the heavy burden of the truth behind something that made him hate the students in the main course of Hope's Peak Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a year since I first posted this fic and it's only 20K+ words so far which is not even a third done orz. But to be fair, I have a lot of other translation projects at the same time so I had to pay less attention to this fic even if I love it so much.
> 
> I'll be taking a break from translating this fic for the next month due to school work (final semester is suffering) so I hope you can bear with me.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading thus far and supporting this fic although I suck at updating so much.


	16. Chapter 16

Within the meeting room which was once again shrouded by silence, this time, the sound that broke this cold atmosphere was a bitter laugh from Nanami-san.

'The one who noticed this earliest should be one of the 'Good Lucks' or they noticed it at the same time... Kamukura could even predict this.'

'Eh? Kamukura's prediction...?'

'No, it's nothing, it's just that I lost a bet so the next move would be controlled by Kamukura.'

Anyway, Nanami-san's role seems to be Super High School Level gamer...? That seemingly confident muttering, it can't be that Kamukura kept losing at her at games, so he used this kind of strange bet to gain a chance to act first?

...Although it was nothing to do with the current situation, I was still curious about their showoffs.

'Versus Kamukura, it's 79 wins and 67 losses. Versus Hinata, it's 149 wins and 1 loss.'

Did her camera capture my curious expression? Hearing this kind of score, was I the only one who minded that Hinata-kun won only once?

'I-It seems that your life is very peaceful... Moving on, what do you mean that Hinata was still carrying some burden? The real reason that he declared us enemies...?'

For a moment, Souda-kun's expression looked like he was looking at something nostalgic, but he immediately switched back to the main topic. Hmm, although he looks like the type who would act independently, but now among the members, he would be considered as one with common sense.

'......'

'That... Nanami-san......?'

Nanami-san suddenly became silent. If not for the screen showing her image with slightly changing hesitating expression, one would suspect that there was a connection problem or that the computer suddenly died.

'...... Sorry. I had made my decision to come to tell everyone that truth. When I really wanted to say it... I still... feel that the content was something that should not be revealed by me......'

'Eh......?'

'Hinata never mentioned to me about that time... It was Kamukura who thought that if Hinata would sooner or later mentally break down from always carrying that burden. That was why he took control when Hinata was weak and told me about that past.'

Even though he looked like he never cared, Kamukura-kun at least was concerned about his other half, Hinata-kun.... Huh? Wait......

'Eh? Kamukura can only forcibly switch personalities when Hinata is weak...?'

Souda-kun could not have asked this at a better time. But it resulted in Naegi giving an expression which seemed to say 'Eh? Nobody knew?'... Looks like Naegi-kun completely never noticed that he could actually understand how that pair were like twin brothers in the mental sense better than everyone else, with the exception of Nanami-san.

'In terms of action, wasn't Hinata-senpai the dominant one? Because Kamukura would not take initiative to do anything.'

Ah... This is indeed the case.

No matter how his talent gave him an advantage, the intention of one who does not want to do anything cannot be stronger than that of an ordinary person... Or in other words, his intention of 'not wanting to do do anything' is stronger...

Hinata-kun, if you drag Kamukura-kun out, he would most likely become Super High School Level Hikikomori?

'Mmm, just like what Naegi-kun had said. Maybe it's because of how you met Kamukura more, so you might have mistakenly thought that he had dominant control. Actually the one who appears usually is Hinata. Even if you begged him, it would not be strange if Kamukura refused to appear... Tsk, what a rare species.'

...Which means that we met the rarer one more than the regular one, only because two of us here were Super High School Level Good Luck? Anyway, from the records so far, one completely could not feel how low the probability of Kamukura appearing was......

'But, Hinata should not want to meet you all, so if there was another chance to meet, it would be more likely that you would meet Kamukura.'

'And the reason that Hinata-kun does not want to meet us, it would be the truth that he did not want to mention to even you?'

'......'

Once this topic was brought up, Nanami-san fell into silence again.

'That... is something I really cannot say...'

I thought that Naegi-kun would say something like 'Don't force yourself' like the good person he was, but before I opened my mouth to interrupt him, I noticed the determination in his eyes.

'Then how about we ask and Nanami-san answer... would this be alright?'

Naegi-kun... did he get something? From Kirigiri-san's wavering, she should not have mentioned about what she had kept hidden, but Naegi-kun still found out something by himself... As expected of the hope who utterly defeated Super High School Level Despair herself. Even if he just looked like a rotten good person, at critical moments, he was a presence that made one feel safe.

......This makes it sound like he was not reliable usually? Although from an objective view, it seems accurate...

'... Hmm, if everyone noticed this truth by themselves, it would be the best outcome... I think.'

Nanami-san's smile looked quite forced. However, she still showed firm determination.

'The 'incident' in the past, it is not the fault of anyone who is still living now. But the burden should have been carried by everyone related to it-- This is what I think.'

'... That... incident...' Naegi-kun clenched his fist rather stiffly, using a shaking voice which sounded like hope was being denied. 'It refers to... the truth of... the reserve course mass suicides right?'

'...Yes.'

Naegi's question and Nanami-san's confirmed answer, once again rendered my mind blank after I barely recovered by thinking ability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final year internship and project is over so I'm back to translating this weekly and as usual, thanks for the support! 
> 
> It's great to see Super Dangan Ronpa 2 being released in English in this fall so Kamukura will no longer be a huge spoiler yay~


	17. Chapter 17

The reserve course mass suicides.

The difference of it compared to 'The Worst Incident of Hope Peak's Academy' and 'The World's Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident In The History Of All Mankind' was that it was an incident which was never treated like it actually happened. In the records, it was merely a short line.

Due to being consumed by Enoshima's despair, the 2357 reserve course students of Hope's Peak Academy committed mass suicide without a single survivor.

Although now it was known that there were actually survivors, there should be less than 2357 deaths... Compared to the 13 deaths of the main branch student council which was dubbed as  'The Worst Incident of Hope's Peak Academy', the deaths of over 2000 students was not even viewed as an incident. This reflected the difference of how the world viewed people with and without talents.

What was even scarier was, before this idea was concepted, nobody had any suspicions.

Was it because the reserve course students were first to be infected by despair so they went berserk, and this made people feel that they deserved death, or was it because it did not matter if a group of ordinary students without talents lived or died? The world only focused on the few 'hopes' which were the survivors from Hope Peak's Academy. Yet nobody knew how and how many other students in the same school had died.

This world, focused on nothing but talent.

'Hey... the truth refers to... the reserve course mass suicides were not just because of despair...?'

...Anyway, if the reserve course mass suicides were connected with the despair party then, why did those four people from the remains of the despair party who retained their memories looked like they did not know anything?

'The root of suicide should be despair and it should be Enoshima's fault... but...' Naegi-kun suddenly adjusted his breath and paused, as if just speaking would cause breathing difficulties. 'Just like what was said before... Enoshima Junko's despair had been set up starting from the variables placed in the environment so as to spark despair... Then, when the reserve course students committed mass suicide, she made use of the despairing environment... What had created the despairing environment she made use of...'

'Are you referring to Hope's Peak Academy itself? Then isn't that already...'

'It's not like that, Togami-kun. If that was the case, Hinata-kun would not have a reason to hide the truth by himself.'

'What did you say?'

 'Naegi-kun, did you notice something? Why Hinata-kun wanted to avoid us and why he had to take the burden of all the truths, even if it meant mental breakdown.'

Although I could barely guess something, but it was blurry, so the image of my mind was not clear. But Naegi-kun who understood the current situation mroe than me, should have a better idea.'

'Hinata-senpai... his reason for not saying anything... it's the same as Kirigiri-san...'

'...!'

Naegi-kun's words, more like mumbling, had made Kirigiri-san tremble obviously.

'Because... At that time, what made the reserve course despair, was us...?'

Everyone's faces showed even more terror and shock at Naegi-kun's deduction. I could not look at my own face, but at that moment, my mind was cool and calm instead. I did not even have the strength to be surprised.

Indeed, only talent would explain Hinata-kun's attitude... But, Naegi-kun should have other reasons which made him arrive at that conclusion?

'At that time, we were being 'protected' in the old school compound... But what were we being protected from? If the reserve course students were not attacking and were being attacked instead... then...'

'I see, which means when the main branch students were locked in the compound, the reserve course students were abandoned outside-- is it like this?'

Come to think of it, although the main branch students indeed had lots of privileges compared to the reserve course students, but in the chaos, the students were still weak. To Enoshima, losing the reserve course students then meant that there was no rowdy crowd with a leader. If the school were to be broken into, the students seeking help from the school were rejected, then killing themselves in despair could be a possibility.

What...? Suddenly, in my mind... there was a silhouette that I could not see clearly...

I could not see or hear anything, but I could feel... the pressure of despair...

'K-Komaeda-senpai?'

'...No-nothing. Nanami-san, is that so?'

Everyone looked at me weirdly, is my expression strange?'

Indeed, that blur silhouette which flashed in my mind made me feel uncomfortable... but I completely could not think of what it could be. Thinking about it now would be useless.

'...At that time, the people who broke into the school... were the army summoned by the headmaster.'

'...Army?'

'The army was for 'dealing with the thugs in the school', which are reserve course students who were chased away by tear gas. But Enoshima took the first step and spread the rumour of 'the army will use poisonous gas to clear the whole area'.'

'...'

Hmm, this means......

Because the reserve course students became violent and took over the insides of the school, the headmaster let the reserve course survivors hide in the sealed old school compound to avoid the disaster while sending distress signals outside. The army which came decided to use tear gas to evacuate the students, but the students thought that it was a fatal poisonous gas. Therefore they were terrified and went towards the old school compound which was likely to be equipped with anti-gas facilities. Because they were trapped outside the door, they killed themselves in despair.

'......'

...Why does it sound like from start to end, they deserved it?

From the view of a bystander, it was such a stupid joke that one could not even laugh at.

'......!'

That silhouette just flashed again... What was that? No matter how hard I tried, I could not see it clearly or grasp it. What was it trying to convey to me? Besides the despair that even I thought was maddening, I could not get anything!

'...Hmph, so in the end, it was because of their own weakness.' 

Although he said it like this, Togami-kun's face was still unmistakably pale.

The students who were being protected then were not in the wrong, but to the students who were locked out, those who were protected was the reason they gave up... Even if it was their fault, even if I understood this...

To Hope's Peak, the only valuable point of the reserve course students was to earn more funding to research on how to enhance the main branch students further. Although that was just the school's focus and had nothing to do with the willingness of the main branch students, what happened showed that the existence of the main branch students stepped on everything that the reserve course students had. The small thing was the educational resources, the big thing was their value and even their right to exist. They probably never noticed this for a long time and avoided it on purpose.

But to me, becoming a stepping board to hope was nothing bad. How ironic, to think this way as a main branch student while reserve course students most likely do not think so.

...Argh, the flashing rate has become higher but I still cannot see the image any clearer. What the hell is this!

'From an objective point of view, the reserve course student mass suicide was instigated by Enoshima and it is not wrong to put the blame on them. If anyone else is to be blamed, that would be just taking anger out illogically.' Nanami-san slightly lowered her head, as if to hide her expression, while speaking calmly. 'Except that, no matter how it is understood logically, but to someone who has actually experienced it...'

'What happened? Nanami?'

'Sorry, but I have to go. I'll contact you later!'

'What happened......'

Without any answers, the image on the screen had reverted back to the usual desktop and the rabbit appeared again.

'Hey! What happened to Nanami?!'

'Uwah, uwawawawah, e-everyone, please calm done!'

'...You should calm down first.'

As the rabbit on the screen spun in circles at a loss, the students who faced the interruption calmed down instead. Nobody wanted to react in the same way that the rabbit did.

'Usami, do you know what happened to Nanami?'

From the urgency in Nanami's voice, when the communication was cut off, it was definitely not something good. From the sweating rabbit in front of us, it might not know what was going on.

'Something happened again... S-sorry, I can't talk about the specifics...'

'...If you don't say it, I'll delete it now?'

'D-don't threaten your teacher! Teachers have the d-d-duty to protect s-s-students and w-w-won't be afraid of such things!'

It was totally shaking intensely, but from this reaction, the next action could be decided.

'Teacher! We're also worried about what happened to our friend and want to protect her! The worrying feeling of being in the dark, Teacher should know the best!'

Cold stares went in my direction, but I will ignore them for now.

'Ko-komaeda-san......'

'Whether it's Nanami-san, Hinata-kun or Kamukura-kun, they're our classmates and our important friends! Please, Teacher, tell us what happened to our comrades and how we should save them!'

'Uu-uu... Teacher knows...'

Easy peasy.

Meh, even if I do nothing, Naegi-kun would also earnestly say the above lines to persuade the rabbit. I might have done something unnecessary? To be honest, those stares are kind of painful.

'That, everyone please don't be too worried... Nanami-chan... she should, hmm, it's just Hinata-kun having a nightmare again...'

'...Huh?'

I could also feel the late suspicion that Owari-san had felt when she expressed her confusion... Hearing Nanami-san's nervous tone made one think that Hinata-kun cut her off, and it was just a nightmare? And Hinata-kun was sleeping and it should be Kamukura... Hold on? The rabbit did not want to discuss this topic in order to 'protect the students', this means......

The situation now, would it reveal weaknesses of Hinata-kun or Kamukura-kun?

'Although the situation of Hinata-san having frequent nightmares is something to worry about, but the main thing now is that Kamukura-san's actions has made it... hmm, difficult...'

'Eh? What do you mean?'

'Because Kamukura-san's situation is special as he cannot know nor understand human emotion... That, also means he completely doesn't know how to cope with changes in emotions... while Hinata-san's memories and emotions can be felt by him... so-'

'Which means that whever Hinata-kun experiences any intense emotions, Kamukura-kun who does not have the ability to deal with emotions would cause an overloaded effect?'

'Ah, i-it's something like that.'

'... What kind of strain will this cause?'

'I don't know, but he looks like he's in a lot of pain, so when Hinata-san is awake, he would keep his emotions in control, but when he is asleep......'

'Then, if Kamukura-kun used his talent fully to process a lot of information at the same time, would Hinata-kun have a similar reaction?'

'Eh? How does Komaeda-san know?'

'And this burden is taken by whoever who is in control?'

'Did you hear it from Hinata-san or Kamukura-san?'

'Nothing, thanks.'

Incidentally knowing about the weaknesses of that pair of spiritual twins... Meaning that, when Hinata-kun is in action, Kamukura-kun could not use his talents fully. When Kamukura-kun is in action, Hinata-kun cannot have any intense emotional reactions. If this limit is exceeded, self-destruction may occur.

Alright, most of the information is intact.

'Ah, if Kamukura could share Hinata-senpai's emotions and pain... Hinata-senpai could also feel Kamukura's pain?'

'According to what the rabbit said, this should be the case?'

'Then... Now, it should...'

'...Ah.'

When I understood what Naegi-kun wanted to express, I also unknowingly expressed some off-beat thoughts.

'Hey... what do you mean? What will happen?'

'Hmm... I should say that everything that happened until now does not matter, but... how do I say it, everything that has to be asked was asked, so it should be alright?'

'So we're asking you what is exactly happening!'

'C-calm down, Souda-senpai! Hinata-senpai being able to feel what Kamukura feels, it means due to his emotional strain, Kamukura probably...'

Just as Souda-kun almost grabbed my collar to inquire more, the image on the projector changed again.

However, it was not Nanami-san this time. 

'...He would wake up and appear instead of Kamukura...'

Instead, it was Hinata-kun himself who was mentioned.


	18. Chapter 18

This time, it should not be a programmed communication and it should be a live teleconference. Hinata-kun who appeared on the screen, used his body to cover most of the camera lens. From here, it was impossible to tell what kind of place he was in. But from the hastily worn jacket and his messy hair, he looked like he just crawled out of his bed.

'Good evening, Hinata-kun.'

'...Because of you all, it was totally not a good one.'

With his face looking so terrible that one would not hesitate to call for help, his speech was surprisingly calm-- although there was some kind of twisted self-depreciation to it.

'Although I knew that Nanami would sooner or later contact you all to tell about the situation, it was out of my expectations that Kamukura would help her. Looks like in their eyes, they think that I'm weaker than I think I am... It's useless to mention this now. You have known everything already?'

'Know everything... you're referring to...'

'Ah, my mouth slipped, it's something boring that has nothing to do with all of you. When the reserve course students committed suicide, Kamukura was also there. Then, I also had Kamukura's memories--it's that simple.'

'Eh? He was there...?'

'For some reasons... Meh, there's nothing to hide about this now. Because the despair that Enoshima brought to Kamukura was to make him notice that he was different from other 'humans' while he originally did not harbour any suspicions about himself. In order to understand the emotions of people although he could not do so, he observed people's reactions in extreme situations .'

'Kamukura's despair... is...'

'If he could never possess any humanity, then he would never be able to feel despair. The act of always wanting to understand humans is already despairing itself; and if he could possess humanity, then everything he saw or heard could be used to bring despair to him who was finally human-- Although I have not met Enoshima herself, the memories from Kamukura's point of view only had all sorts of information, so I cannot understand it. From how she could make Kamukura encounter neverending despair when he originally never had the emotion of despair, she herself is way more powerful that the AE.'

Hinata-kun flexed his shoulders in self depreciation, but it looked like there was nothing to take note about him. To Hinata-kun, if the real Super High School Level Despair was just abstract 'information', this means in Kamukura-kun's view, Enoshima Junko was no different from anyone else? Even if this was the case, she could see Kamukura-kun's features and lead him to despair. I really completely have no memories of despair herself and what kind of existence she was.

'The reason does not matter already. Anyway, at that time, Kamukura had made the intense emotions people experienced in extreme situations his observational targets. With the situation then, there were no despairing incidents until the reserve course mass suicides happened.'

'...And whatever Kamukura saw and heard then became your despair?'

Togami-kun's line of questioning was as sharp as usual, but this time it lacked his usual force. Even an heir who was used to be above others probably could not be indifferent towards the truth of how one had to step over corpses in order to survive.

Meh, but I believe that everyone here has the strength of getting over the truth and live on for the dead. They did not actually step on anything since from the beginning until now, it was all the doing of the reserve course students.

'Despair...there should be some of it. If it's possible, finding a deserted corner to crouch to wait for death doesn't sound like a bad idea.'

When he said that, Hinata-kun's mouth twisted into a mocking smile.

Although his expression and tone were cold, but for some reason I could see the reason why Kamukura-kun and Nanami-san were both worried for him in their own ways-- He completely did not notice, that he had stretched himself to his limits.

Like a balloon which would burst with little more air pumped inside, like a tightrope which would break with another leaf placed on it, there was no problem on the amount of weight he could carry. However, he had carried too much weight and he was still forcing himself to carry on more weight.

'However, I don't even have the right to despair. Maybe experiencing the incident itself would lead to despair, but luckily I do not pursue the same things as Enoshima. I won't do things like spread despair, so don't worry about this.'

'No, we're not worrying about this problem...'

If Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun were to team up to spread despair to the world once more, in some way it would be even scarier than Enoshima Junko... Who knows even I might lose my belief in hope...... 

'No matter what you know, no matter how you try to explain, just don't stop me. I also do not want to take action on you all.'

'...If Hinata-senpai's objective is just to eliminate 'Hope's Peak' as the remainder of the real source of despair, we have no reason to stop you. In fact, we will fully support you.'

'There is no need to. To 'those who were left outside the walls' on that day, even if it was not the fault of 'those who were protected within the walls', they are still a hated target.'

'So, Hinata-senpai wanted to create other 'enemies' for them?'

'......'

Naegi-kun was only trying to speak casually, yet it made Hinata-kun momentarily show a bit of hesitation.

'Because Enoshima Junko is already dead, the true despair party also became your comrades, so even us who were to be hated had become people you had to protect. Therefore, Hinata-senpai would despise the survivors of that day and prepare a target to vent on-- which is the entire Future Foundation.'

'...This is beyond me, I never knew that I had such a sublime motive...'

'Ah, so Hinata-kun also has a playful side?'

'Shut up, you bastard!'

...I got scolded.

'Th-that... Anyway, Hinata-senpai thinks that Hope's Peak Academy's belief was the true source of the despair incident, as the people most likely to uphold the schools' belief-- Although it was not mentioned before, actually it was already unknowingly upheld-- by the Future Foundation, so it became the ideal 'enemy'. Targeting the whole Future Foundation and not anyone in particular, this would prevent the Foundation's plans of rebuilding the school and also give the reserve course survivors a chance to vent with minimum damage. You just want to use this to protect everyone?'

'I'm not......'

'I see, in some way, your method is similar to that of Enoshima Junko bringing people into despair by providing a target to gather hate. Then when the survivors start to vent and not think right, start to affect their thinking and the effect of this brainwashing would reduce hate and despair.'

'Don't make me sound like some kind of final boss!'

'Hmm, come to think of it, if you slightly modify Enoshima's method of bringing people into despair, despair can be eliminated? This way, wouldn't it be more effective than the New World Program which only gets rid of memories?'

'I say, you......'

'Then if Kamukura's true ability is 'analysing and executing data', when brainwashing... I mean, when influencing others, he would be stronger than Enoshima? This seems very plausible.'

'Hey......'

'It can be done but it's too boring, so I'm not interested.' (These words appeared on the screen of the teleconference)

'Kamukura, you go back to sleep!'

'Super High School Level Nanny......?'

'SHUT UP!'

Tears started appearing in Hinata-kun's eyes... Anyway, even if I knew that he shared his body with Kamukura, looking at his hand typing on its own and him screaming at that hand was a strange sight to behold... So they could control different parts of their body at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I've started working full-time with 44 hours a week at a childcare centre, so I don't have much time to translate after trying to catch up with my fandoms and cleaning manga.
> 
> This is a particularly long chapter since it's twice as long as this extract, but I've decided to split it into 2 parts so I can update earlier and don't stress myself too much.
> 
> Thanks for bearing with my slow updates as usual!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this chapter onwards, I'll put brackets after speech to indicate who is speaking since I had a comment that it was confusing to see who was speaking each line.
> 
> The original Chinese fic never states who is speaking, so it's just me guessing according to context. It would be too difficult to add descriptive verbs, therefore brackets make reading easier, I hope.
> 
> For now, it's mostly Hinata (aggressive), Komaeda (curious and outrageous at times) and Naegi (polite with honorifics) who are speaking most.

'Although I don't understand much, but Hinata-kun is still Hinata-kun?'   _(Komaeda)_

'You never understood anything!'  _(Hinata)_

Hinata-kun who forcefully hit the table, finally stopped our combined attack (?). In retrospect, it might have been too much.

'You never... understood anything at all...'  _(Hinata)_

'S-sorry... However, Hinata-senpai, in the end, we never had any reasons to be enemies, right? Even if your current stand required you to be against Future Foundation, you don't have an actual reason to be in conflict with us, do you?'  _(Naegi)_

'That's why I said, you all don't understand...'  _(Hinata)_

Hinata-kun tiredly clutched his head and that twisted smirk appeared again.

'Not mentioning Kamukura yet, 'Hinata Hajime of the reserve course' must become your enemy... Even if it is deceiving myself, even if I clearly know that I am wrong, I have... made my decision...'  _(Hinata)_

'...Why?'

'That has nothing to do with you. Besides myself, it has nothing to do with anyone, not even Kamukura.' When he put down his hand, his expression and tone reverted back to a even cold calmness. 'I never had the honourable motive of protecting everyone that you thought of, and it's impossible for me to do such a thing. This is the last warning, I am your enemy. Although up til now, I never felt the need to target you all, but if I think that you will hinder me, I will not give you any mercy.'  _(Hinata)_

'Hinata-kun, until now your numerous attacks never caused any casualties yet, what extent do you mean by 'not giving any mercy'?'  _(Komaeda)_

'...If there is a need to, I will have to take action myself.'  _(Hinata)_

'Then, we will stop you with our all.'  _(Naegi)_

'......'

Naegi-kun's immediate answer, made Hinata-kun waver slightly again.

'I don't think that Hinata-senpai can really fight his friends, but if you have reasons to force yourself to do so, then we will find and rectify them. Even without Nanami's request, we don't want to see our friend suffer.'  _(Naegi)_

'Friend... Ha, don't sell me that one-sided idea. I don't think that way.'  _(Hinata)_

'Because of the difference between 'main branch student' and 'reserve course student'?'  _(Naegi)_

'...Exactly. Without Kamukura, you all would not have taken note of me, right? Just like how the Future Foundation had never noticed that there was one reserve course student less from the island, nobody would notice an existence that can be done without.'  _(Hinata)_

'Hinata-senpai! These words...'  _(Naegi)_

'Ahaha, then we who had been saved by 'an existence that can be done without' are even more pathetic existences then.'  _(Komaeda)_

My words made Hinata-kun frown. When he wanted to say something, he swallowed it and snorted instead.

'Hey, Naegi-kun, Hinata-kun. Ah, I should also include Kamukura-kun-- If this continues, I feel that there will be a stalemate, how about changing strategy?'  _(Komaeda)_

'Komaeda-senpai...?' ( _Naegi)_

'Just go on with your suggestion...'  _(Hinata)_

Naegi-kun's face was filled with confusion while Hinata-kun's face was full of vigilance and anticipating my words. Mmm, being stared at by two people with very different lights of hope makes me nervous somehow.

'Hinata-kun's hope-- For now, it is unknown whether he wants to defeat the Future Foundation. Kamukura-kun's hope is granting Hinata-kun's wish. Then Naegi-kun's hope is stopping Hinata-kun and making him a comrade again. Am I right?'  _(Komaeda)_

'Yeah, you got the gist......'  _(Naegi)_

'So you want to say like how the different 'hopes' would clash to produce the true hope?'  _(Hinata)_

'Eh? Hinata-kun, are you psychic or what?'  _(Komaeda)_

'I'd be an idiot if I listened to you continue... You're only thinking of a showdown between two people who possess the talent of 'Super High School Level Hope', aren't you? Kamukura aside, even I won't be interested in this.'  _(Hinata)_

How astute. Looks like in my lost memories, Hinata-kun had become so familiar with me that he understood my crappy personality so well.

'Meh, not mentioning my own motives, how about listening to the betting method?'  _(Komaeda)_

'Huh? When was betting mentioned...?'  _(Hinata)_

'Hey, don't take things into your own hands!'  _(Naegi)_

Although there were many suspicions and objections, the main two... or it should be three? Everyone who had related to this seemed to have started pondering. They should be able to understand how stubborn the other was and came to the conclusion that neither of them could be persuaded.

If words were not able to win over the other and nobody wanted to take the first step, then there had to be some other way to conclude this. Even if I did not mention it, they would have came to one decision.

'How about this, in a week, if Hinata-kun or Kamukura-kun could kill one of us... Ouch!'  _(Komaeda)_

I fell from my seat after Kuzuryuu beat me up with a spanner he borrowed from Souda-kun.

'Hmm... besides Komaeda-senpai's wager suggestion, would a bet be good?'  _(Naegi)_

'...It depends on the conditions, we may or may not accept it.'  _(Hinata)_

'If we win, we will no longer hinder any of Hinata-senpai's actions... and I will leave the Future Foundation. Would this suffice?'  _(Naegi)_

'...My wager would be to completely halt all the activities of 'Anonymous' against the Foundation?'  _(Hinata)_

'No, it would be to change the method only. Seeing that the source of despair is Hope Peak's Academy's beliefs, we all know that-- we are just hope and Hinata-senpai, you should not be bounded by the reasons that only you know. You should come back to us.'  _(Naegi)_

'......'

 'If you feel that the two wagers are not equal enough...' What surprised everyone was how Kirigiri-san who was previously silent until now, suddenly spoke. 'How about the current wager plus the remains of the information retrieved from the destroyed school campus?'

'......!'

'You always fought against the Future Foundation through cyber attacks, is it to dig out the leftover information from Hope's Peak Academy?'  _(Kirigiri)_

'Tch, did the figures brought to your division give you clues? No wonder Kamukura was so willing to help...'  _(Hinata)_

(t/n: It's the things that Kamukura brought over in chapter 7-ish when he makes his first appearance)

'You clearly kept disturbing the information sharing network in the Foundation, yet you brought the figures easily-- And then there were a lot of important information-- So I went to check the condition of the corrupted information of the various divisions. From the beginning, you just wanted to look for one file only, right?'  _(Kirigiri)_

Hinata-kun on the screen scratched his head unhappily, but he still nodded as he sighed.

'Hey, there's no need to hide this. I don't mind sharing the Future Foundation's information, I just wanted to confirm... that the records of the Hope Cultivation project was never leaked. That's all.'  _(Hinata)_

'Information related to the Hope Cultivation Project...?'  _(Kirigiri)_

'This is my priority target. The Hope Cultivation Project was a core project of Hope's Peak for a long time. Even if the school campus itself was destroyed, it cannot be guaranteed that no information was leaked and nobody took over to continue it. Only that project, is something that I will destroy at all costs.'  _(Hinata)_

'Because... of Kamukura?'  _(Kirigiri)_

'...Saying would be meaningless now. Anyway, if there is really such information and records from the school... I will accept this wager.'  _(Hinata)_

Although he looked unhappy, but it seemed to be not because his objective was seen through so easily... If his mumbling had something to do with Kamukura-kun's arrangements, in some way, he was really betrayed by himself...

'Then, the wagers of the bet... In a week, Kamukura and I will retrieve the thumbdrive with the Usami program. If we can accomplish this, it is our win. If not, it is your win-- How does this sound?'  _(Hinata)_

'Eh? That thumbdrive...?'

After a few gasps of surprise, everyone realised that it was the reason that let to this bet.

I see, I was thinking about why Nanami-san tried so hard to establish communication with us in such a turnabout way. If Hinata-kun still wanted Nanami-san by his side and not want her to leak any information, he could either retrieve the thumbdrive or destroy the Usami program. In other words, no matter which option he chose, he still had to drop by the 15th division at least once.

'Ah, the thumbdrive should not be destroyed. It's up to you to guard it anywhere. But it must be within the compounds of the 15th Division or brought along with any of the 15th Division ex-student members. The time starts from tonight at midnight. If anyone comes up with any new conditions, contact the other party before then and it will only be valid if both sides agree. How's this?'  _(Hinata)_

'...Hinata-kun is surprisingly careful. Or is this Kamukura-kun's intention?'  _(Komaeda)_

'I'm sorry, but there's no way that Kamukura and I can plan things separately.' 

'No, I don't mean that... I accept these conditions. But please give us time to discuss.'

'Please do so. After making your decision, contact me through Usami and Nanami. I'm off... Huh? Kamukura?'

On the screen, Hinata-kun made a surprised look before nodding his head-- then his whole atmosphere changed in a moment.

'Kamukura? What happened?'

'...No matter whether you accept this bet or not, I think that taking the first step will be more advantageous.'  _(Kamukura)_

'Eh...?'

Kamukura-kun's indifferent announcement made everyone feel a sense of foreboding and nobody could stop him from continuing.

'The Luckster of the 77th batch... No, Super High School Level Pervert.'  _(Kamukura)_

'That, you don't need to change your words... I mean, don't do that...'  _(Komaeda)_

'If despair is caused by the reality of death, then is hope caused by wanting to live on?

'....Eh?'

Why does my brain suddenly feel like it's being pummeled with great force?

What is... Kamukura-kun saying?

'Then, whether it is despair or hope, these things are so pure.'

......???!!!

These words... This voice... I... remember...

That... When was it? Where did I... hear this...

Yes... It was... at that time...

The images that went through my mind which I was unable to see clearly, suddenly showed themselves completely.

The despair-filled madness, the despair-filled curse, the space filled with despair, what I heard when I was at rock bottom, the only voice which had nothing to do with despair...

'Ah... AH AH AH AH AHHHHHH-----!!!!!'

When I realised that I made a scream that I could not imagine, my consciousness sunk into a dark abyss.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italic text denotes Kamukura speaking mentally to Hinata, which means only Hinata can hear it.  
> Most conversations have no brackets as it's either Hinata/Kamukura or Hinata/Nanami conversation.

Compared to other talents which would repeat once in every few batches, 'Super High School Level Luck' which was present in every batch was an exception.

To be precise, it was since when 'luck' was considered as a talent, Hope's Peak Academy then invited students who met this criteria. It seemed to have started from around the 69-70th batch with every batch having one 'Good Luck' through balloting.

Every single luckster seem to be different in their own ways. There was one person who never got chosen for anything besides this ballot; he did not even get a 'one more serving' which often came with popsicles and cup noodles. Another one had things with the lowest probability happen to him, whether good or bad things. For example, he could draw a great blessing and a great curse in two successive draws of [omikuji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-mikuji). Others could win lucky draws with a 100% chance of winning, but with 100% of the time getting end prizes with weird luck.

My luck, seems to be of the 'invest and return' type. 'Good luck' is only received after paying the price of 'bad luck', but the kind of good or bad luck has nothing to do with my will. Researchers have found a pattern after some experiments, but because they have never explained it to me personally before, in the end, I figured out how my luck worked through life experience.

That day, at that moment, what I saw and heard, whether is it good or bad luck for me, the current me is still unable to make such an accurate judgment.

But when I remember that moment, I understood that it was a factor responsible for my current decisions.

Because it was at that moment, I originally only yearned for hope and was obsessed with the light of hope.

Even if it was just a delusion.

When the video conference seemed to have ended, Hinata forcefully ruffled his already messy hair and shouted.

'Hey, what is all this... Komaeda was also there? Your memories never had such content, Kamukura!'  _(Hinata)_

_'Because I did not recognise his presence then. It was only that you were not able to think of that possibility from the information.'_

'It's just a possibility, but you say it as if you're sure... Forget it, you're such a person anyway.' After a deep breath, Hinata who looked like he was just talking to himself made a painful smile at the image of Nanami. 'You too. This time you all caused so much trouble.'  _(Hinata)_

'Sorry... But I feel that...'  _(Nanami)_

'Yeah, I know. Although I can't accept it, but I appreciate your concern.'  _(Hinata)_

'Hinata...'  _(Nanami)_

'Honestly, for a moment, I thought that even you were going to leave me... Sorry, although it was just for a moment, I did not trust you. I'm really sorry.'  _(Hinata)_

'No, I should be sorry instead. Actually, until just now, I was worried that you would leave me with everyone and leave by yourself... Really, this is what I'm most afraid of.'  _(Nanami)_

'...Until now, I think that leaving you at their side would be better. Although I anyhow found a reason to convince myself with... In the end, I think I would be uneasy when alone... Ah, sorry, Kamukura, I did not intend to leave you out.'  _(Hinata)_

_'Leaving me out naturally seems to be too much? Although I don't mind.'_

'You're definitely throwing a tantrum, are you? Every time you say you don't mind, but afterwards, you'll take revenge...'

_'Although I feel that I don't mind, but from what I learnt, reacting seems more like a normal human response.'_

'What kind of weird things did you learn?'

'Keke, it's Hinata's fault that Kamukura was left out. So you can't say anything about having revenge dished out on you?'  _(Nanami)_

'Why do I feel that you and Kamukura are in sync when teasing me...' After another long sigh, Hinata changed his painful smile to his usual cold expression. 'But...Nanami.'

'I know. Your upcoming bet, I will not do anything about it... To me, I hope that Hinata loses.'

'From an objective point of view, I have to admit that us losing is a better ending... But this ending will probably not happen.'

'...For the sake of winning, would you do something like how Kamukura used Komaeda-san as a pawn?'  _(Nanami)_

'Although I cannot predict Kamukura's actions, but even if I knew about it first... I would agree.' Hinata who answered this calmly, looked quite scary this way. 'The 15th Division has too many things which would make the reserve course students lose control. If anything has to be done about it, I will have to make an appearance along with Kamukura. With a disadvantage in number, destroying the foundation of the opponent is necessary.'

'But...'

'However, if the next pawn is that Komaeda... Kamukura, can you predict how that Komaeda would become uncontrollable?'

_'Luck is essentially the ability to deviate from all sorts of plans. To accurately predict completely, it's something that even I cannot do.'_

...Hey, then what's the point of this step?'

_'It's just to increase the probability of change. According to analysis of the current situation, we're more likely to lose. Therefore, even if it is difficult to predict advantageous and disadvantageous factors, as long as it's something that can change the situation, it is worth a try.'_

'For this, you give Komaeda a motive to go berserk?'

_'If he really goes berserk due to recovering that memory, it would be beneficial to us... What we should take note is, the exact opposite.'_

'The opposite...?'

_'Regarding the memory of that time, it is the reason that you went berserk in their eyes. If someone who had went through that can maintain their sanity and point out that it's the real reason that you act alone, can you guarantee that you won't go berserk?'_

'...It would be hard. Anyway, why does it sound like we're taking a bigger risk?'

_'Because we need a bigger risk to trigger a higher probability of luck happening. Just as long as we get rid of that pervert when the situation gets too out of hand. This would not be too hard.'_

'Hmm... Kamukura, are you saying this because you wanted to persuade me to get rid of him from the start...'

_'I can't deny that this is one of the reasons.'_

'How much do you hate Komaeda... Ah, no, forget it, pretend that I never asked.'

After sighing lightly, Hinata's gaze once again went to Nanami who was waiting for him to finish 'speaking to himself'.

'I'll discuss with kamukura after the overall plan later. I'll be waiting for you to contact me and I'll leave this to you.'

'Yeah, it should be chaotic for a while, so Hinata better rest soon. Since you're having a cold, do remember to drink more water and get more rest.'

'Ah... Speaking about it, I feel kind of dizzy... Although the time starts from midnight, I might not even have the chance to take any action tomorrow...'

'...'

'It's alright, Kamukura, this is not your fault... No, this is actually your fault. But... never mind.' Staggering back to his bed, Hinata's speech seemed like sleep talk once he was on his pillows. 'Then, good night... Nanami, if you need to contact me... then wake me up...'

'Good night, Hinata... and Kamukura too.'

'...Good night. When it's time for contact, just call me.'

'Keke, I know. Rest well.'

As Nanami laughed softly, the room resumed its silence. Only the sound of difficult breathing could be heard.


	21. Chapter 21

When I woke up, clearly the first thing I saw was the white ceiling, yet I could still see the image of that time under my eyelids.

‘U-uh… Komaeda-san? Does your head still hurt? Or do you feel nauseous…’

‘…N-nothing.’

Although my head hurt a little, but it was more of a lump caused by constant scratching. The actual mental trauma that made me lose consciousness seemed to not affect my body much.

Tsumiki-san looked at my eyes with her face full of worry, probably to confirm that my eyes were alright... Hmm? Was Tsumiki-san in the meeting room too?

Ah, no... It's because I was sent to the infirmary... Because I collapsed suddenly...

And the reason I collapsed was...

_'You despair because of death, then is living on hope?'_

_'This way, whether it is despair or hope, there's nothing simpler than that.'_

Finally, I was able to clearly recall 'that moment'.

'...?!'

'Ko-Komaeda-san?! I think it's better if you had a further checkup at the hospital, in case...'

'No, I'm alright... since it's not caused by illness or injury. It's just a little confusion.'

I surveyed my surroundings and did not see anyone else in the room. There should be an emergency meeting regarding Hinata-kun's bet, so only Tsumiki-san looked after me due to her professional obligation of tending to the casualties...

'Are you really alright? You shouldn't force yourself, even if you feel that it's nothing, but sometimes...'

'Ah, I'm really alright. Tsumiki-san should go hear the explanations of Naegi and company. This is something important that has to do with everyone in the 15th Division, so it would be troublesome if you were left in the dark. Don't worry, I can take care of myself.'

'But...'

'After I've organised my thoughts, I'll come over... Eh, where did they gather at? The meeting room? Anyway, I'll rush there after I've calmed down. Can you please let me be alone for a while?'

'Ah, Hmm... If you suddenly don't feel well, please call me soon... Then I'll go over first...'

She was clearly taking care of a casualty, yet her nervous tone sounded like a child who was afraid of scolding after doing something wrong. After hesitating for a while, Tsumiki-san left first, leaving me alone in the infirmary.

...So, what's next?

Nanami-san did not manage to convey the whole truth then. Hinata-kun's real reason of wanting to stand on the opposing side of the battlefield from us, I think I should be able to understand.

No, I should say that the truth is not the most important point, since knowing would not make much of a difference. It can even be said that the truth is just a boring thing, what is important is... Only one who had experienced that madness then can understand that such a easily twisted soul existed. About this, I should understand this madness even more than Hinata-kun who received memories with Kamukura-kun... Meh, that madness is not all there is to Hinata-kun's stand.

The survivors from then, including me, no matter whether we imprinted on that figure, to us, we may as well be saved by that fake light of hope. However, Hinata who had received memories from Kamukura-kun's point of view, had no one like this to save him. Conversely, he would carry the burden of having the responsibility to save others.

Therefore, he knew of his decision and went into a dead end. Really, the fact that he could hold on until now is already a miracle.

Nanami-san should be the cause of the miracle, but she only had second-hand information of the situation then... So she asked Naegi and company for help, hoping that they could save Hinata-kun.

Without knowing that this was something they could not do.

Regardless of how many comrades Hinata has, regardless of whether saving people is a symbol of 'hope', people who have not experienced that moment could not move his heart with their words and more so, could not waver his determination.

....My words could probably convey something, but it would be more likely that he would be aggravated. I have a feeling that I'm not the type to influence others... let's not talk about how it could be done negatively.

The surviving reserve course students that Hinata-kun led... if they were of use, the current situation would not happen. In fact, it was more of a detrimental factor.

Meaning that, people who can stop Hinata-kun, not even one exists...?

If there was nobody who could stop Hinata-kun, then neither persuasion nor wager would be meaningful... Even if he lost the bet, Hinata-kun completely did not have the ability to fulfill the wager. Although he forced himself to carry such a heavy burden, if he did not get rid of his obstacles, then nothing will change.

All this effort for nothing... it applies for both sides.

'Hmm...? Hold on...'

It feels like... I missed out something important...

'...'

...Ah, I've forgotten about the most important thing. Which is what is known as a psychological blind spot. Because it was so obvious, nobody was able to see it.

It exists, the ending full of hope.

Although for now it seems difficult to achieve, all the conditions are already met. Except that a trigger was missing right now.

'Haha... Ahahaha...'

This is so exciting... If it succeeded, I could see true hope which was even brighter than last time. Just thinking about it made me tremble in excitement.

Ah, I should not just think about this delusion. Better use your brains and think about it, Komaeda Nagito, about how to make the only hopeful ending happen. Never mind if all the brain cells die due to overuse. Think about future actions and awaken 'hope'.

This must be the purpose of me existing now.


	22. Chapter 22

When I reached the meeting room, the explanations seemed to have ended. Although everyone looked unsatisfied, it looks like nobody would object to accepting that wager. Or rather, the counter strategy was being discussed?

'Ah, is Komaeda-senpai alright?'

Naegi-kun made a relieved expression when he saw me open the door, so he should be worrying about my condition. He is really such a good child who is so kind in all areas that he makes me feel uneasy.

'Nothing much. Sorry for being absent at this kind of time. What has everyone discussed?'

'Hmm, we just covered about the conditions of the wager......'

'Before that, Komaeda Nagito, you have something to explain right?'

Togami-kun interrupted Naegi-kun's explanation and gave me a warning stare.

Oh, I'm still not trustworthy... Although I also feel that I have not done anything to make anyone trust me.

Although it's obvious that nobody trusts me, and I do not really mind, but now I really need to participate in the discussion to derive the final conclusion. So I better cooperate a little for now.

'Ah, the reason that I fainted just now. It's just that I had a little flashback of the past. After calming down, it's nothing much so it's not worth it to waste everyone's time... If you really mind, I'll submit a report?'

I used a relaxed tone to say this, so those who understand would know that this is a topic that cannot be brought up now. Togami-kun did not ask further. He just gave me a mixed glare and adjusted his glasses.

As expected, their explanation did not include the 'true despair party'.

Actually that truth and the looming problem did not have much of connection. But to completely omit this part, it would be difficult to say man things. It is just like them knowing that I am hiding something, yet they are not asking about it.

'Hey, Komaeda, what does that mean?'

Today you're a janitor, imposter... I had this feeling that he had been changing roles more frequently, is this some kind of training?

'It's just a flashback. I said, there's nothing much, so there's no need to waste everyone's time.'

'...Is that really so?'

'An insignificant guy like me should not waste your time. Please do not mind me and continue the more important discussion.'

'...We'll delay the matter of Komaeda Nagito and continue the topic from just now.'

Because he remembered that my memory was definitely not the topic of this discussion, Togami-kun could only stop questioning me and insist on switching the topic.

Honestly, I quite want to mention the truth of 'we are actually the true despair party'. If we do not face this truth, everyone would not be able to obtain hope? But this would cause a huge impact. If anyone remembered the memories from then and became as horrible as me, the situation would be hard to salvage.

The priority of the current me is to understand as much as possible. Anyway, this is already my task as one of Kamukura-kun's pawns, so if I do not meet his basic requirement, I have no right to get closer to him.

'... I just want to confirm the previous discussion's conclusion. Firstly, regarding this wager, Hinata Hajime and Kamukura Izuru's contact must be hidden from the Future Foundation. So we cannot expect assistance from headquarters or other divisions. Only the people of the 15th division can deal with it. No objections?'  _(Komaeda)_

Although some people looked suspicious, but nobody objected.

Even if I completely could not remember the time spent with Hinata-kun, everyone probably had the feeling of 'for some reason we should do this', and did not want to hand him to the Future Foundation to be dealt with.

To me, it is a consequence I do not want to see most. To the Future Foundation which basically inherits the beliefs of Hope's Peak, Hinata-kun's existence would be easily gotten rid of. If they found out about Kamukura-kun, a specimen of the Hope Cultivation Project, then the plan would continue again with him as an experiment. I have a feeling that if Hinata-kun was caught by the Foundation, he would rather kill himself than let researchers treat Kamukura-kun as an experimental subject... Meh, before that, even if the Future Foundation put in all their effort, it is questionable if they could even be captured.

If it was Kamukura-kun, he would have prepared an escape plan early... For example, instruct his subordinates to publish the Enoshima Junko AE he recreated on the internet...

...Although it was just wild speculation, I somehow felt that the probability was quite high and scared myself.

'Even if there is no objections to not ask for assistance from the Foundation... But from how last time Kamukura single-handedly defeated everyone, with our current manpower, he would not need to use much effort and find the target after knocking everyone out?'

'If they do not get the thumbdrive in the end, maybe it is worth a try. But in one week's first six days and especially the first two days, I think it would not happen.'

'Why? Then that is the easiest solution for them, isn't it?'

'On one hand, during the teleconference, Hinata-senpai looks like he's having fever and flu. Therefore I predict that in these two days, he would rest and not do much...'

Oh yeah, if Naegi-kun had not mentioned it, I would have forgotten about this. Would it be better if Hinata-kun not take any action in the next two days?

'On the other hand... According to Nanami, Kamukura's talent is to objectively 'comprehend' and 'analyse' things... so considering that Kamukura had only existed for at most 3 years, physical talents are not his strengths. Unless it is necessary, he would usually choose his strengths to deal with things...'

'Hmm, wait... That guy... is not strong at physical talents? Then what was that ambush a few days ago?'

'I meant...'

'No, Naegi is correct.'

The Super High School Level Swordsman who possessed the most combat ability, Pekoyama Peko spoke for Naegi who has having trouble explaining himself.

'Because I saw this actions that that, I could understand. He never really mastered any form of combat, but he possesses the predictive ability of a combat master to accurately read all the responses and actions only. He skipped the part on technique and straight away mastered the most difficult part of reading the opponent's abilities, thus predicting the accurate response according to it. At the same time, his actions do not carry any 'motive',  which would give a swordsman who can read the opponent's intention a very hard time.'

'...What's the conclusion?'

'During the first meeting, fighters who are used to predicting the opponent's actions through their 'intention' would have difficulty in dealing with someone who is this unnatural. However, after not getting confused by him due to knowing his specialty, the fact that he is not developed in technique is revealed and he has no way to be at the same skill level as a fighter.'

Although it was said this way, the only person in this division who excels at fighting is Pekoyama-san, right? In other words, besides her, nobody else can be Kamukura-kun's opponent?

'Hmm, because I don't understand anything about combat... I just heard Nanami occasionally mentioning that Kamukura would lose most of the time in video gaming, so I felt that Kamukura had all-rounded talent that cannot reach the level of natural talent holders... Because even if he had the same talent, Kamukura's development of that talent is too short compared to natural talent holders... Anyway, if he were to do this to his advantage, whether it is Kamukura or Hinata-senpai,  they would not choose their weakness right?'

'Really, what is Kamukura best at?'

'Gathering intelligence... I think?'

Unsure, Naegi-kun gave Kirigiri-san a questioning gaze who nodded in response.

'The essence of Kamukura's talent is the 'comprehension' and 'analysis' of everything. In other words, he can understand all kinds of information at a high level and using this foundation, manipulate various factors to the outcome he wishes for. The Future Foundation had put in a lot of manpower and effort in different channels to investigate, but up til now, the reason that they are attacking is unknown. This should be the result of Kamukura's information manipulation.'

'Information manipulation...?'

It does not sound very real to me, but come to think of it, this phrase would make one feel fearful all of a sudden.

On a small scale, this could be like deceiving children about the existence of Santa Claus. On a large scale, this could spark wars between countries. Information is the basis that people make various decisions on. In other words, what people want to do is dependent on what kind of information they receive. Even if it is impossible, but on the extreme side, high levels on information manipulation would be equivalent to remotely controlling people's actions.

Although due to a few clashes and appearances in front of us had left an impression that he was actively taking action, actually, Kamukura-kun's talent would suit a mastermind who would not reveal his face until the last moment... But it feels like he would become Super High School Level Shut-in, and his nanny, Hinata-kun would drag him out.

Anyway, Kamukura-kun not being able to know and understand about human emotions should be a huge obstacle during information manipulation... Indeed, some of the analysis and judgment required Hinata to fill in the gaps? Also, no matter how strong is Kamukura-kun's ability, his motive is derived from Hinata's motive, so it would be more effective to target Hinata... Meh, we must deal with the threat that Kamukura-kun presents.

'To take the current situation as an example, he should be using various methods to investigate the location of the thumbdrive, then create an opportunity to target the holders when they let down their guard or unknowingly give it to him... something like this?'

'... Then what kind of investigation methods will be use?'

'That... I'm just listing an example, I don't know what will Kamukura do...'

I bet that right now, even Hinata-kun does not know what is Kamukura-kun planning to do. From their interactions up til now, they are not in sync, at least in their thought processes.

'Kamukura's ideas is something that we cannot think of, so it would be better to not speculate about it.'

'But, if we don't confirm what his actions, then how do we come up with a strategy against him?'

'Anyway, can we decide on where is this thumbdrive to be kept or who should guard it first?'

'For safety, it would be most suitable for Pekoyama-san to guard it?'

'This seems predictable, how about drawing lots to decide so that the other party will not be able to predict who has it? Ah, if it's a lottery, the two lucksters will be excused.'

Too bad, I almost had a 50% probability of being able to the target.

'About this, a batch of similar looking thumbdrives will arrive tomorrow afternoon. No matter who guards the real thing in the end, it's best for everyone to own one in order to deceive the enemy.'

This is such an old fashioned method... And although it looks the same to us, but to Kamukura-kun who knows things better than the average person (or more precisely, any human), it is questionable whether it would look the same in his eyes.

'Because the boundary is limited to the 15th Division's premises or any of the members, even if we cannot seek assistance from the Foundation, it is also a good idea to let someone bring the real thumbdrive with the Usami program to headquarters for a week with an excuse.'

Kirigiri-san's suggestion is indeed very effective. But the biggest weakness is that there were too few people to execute this. If any news leaked out, then there would be too many opportunities for attacking on the way to headquarters.

...Anyway, when I participated in the discussion, it was confirmed that the news would be leaked.

People would make suggestions at times while I listened to each of them silently as I listed what would be considered or shafted. If it was possible, I would want to speak up to create a situation to my advantage. However, besides Naegi-kun, everyone who was there during Nanami-san and Hinata-kun's communication all glared at me with wary eyes. Forcibly speaking would worsen things, I think.

'Hey, Komaeda, you're too quiet, aren't you?'

'Ahaha, that's because everyone had already mentioned what I was thinking. I have nothing to say.'

Although this made others suspicious, but I just bluffed to bring it over.

In the end, the conclusion of this discussion was that Pekoyama-san would guard the thumbdrive tonight before the other red herring thumbdrives arrive tomorrow. The thumbdrive would be protected under the circumstances of nobody knowing which one is the real one. Naegi-kun and I were prohibited from participating in the lottery to determine who would protect the thumbdrive. Of course, whoever who drew the lot was also banned from checking its contents after receiving it. Because of Kamukura-kun's attack last time, the security lacked manpower from too many casualties. Tomorrow, members of the Kuzuryuu group would join the security force. All Division members were banned from travelling alone and if possible, one should move in groups within the Division. That is about all the measures taken.

Nothing special, it can be said that it's a headache-inducing strategy... Meh, if it is Kamukura-kun, he should easily find a loophole somewhere.

Since I do not have to worry about what kind of action that Kamukura-kun will take, I only need to give him the information I have gathered to show my attitude.

Really, the problem of the winner of this wager is not big. To me, it is just a stepping stone to get closer to Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun.

Kamukura-kun should have predicted my thoughts and made me his pawn? But that is all there is in common with our goals.

I still have yet to understand Kamukura-kun's true intentions, but it would not be the same and it would be impossible for it to be the same.

...On how much Kamukura-kun have predicted my goals, how he would use me to achieve his goal, this is something that trash like me cannot predict.

So, when I went back to my room, I realised how naive I was.

It was my first time experiencing the touch of metal on my neck once I closed the door to my room.

'How unexpected, Kamukura-kun. Even if you threaten me like this, I won't shout for others to come.'

'...Oh, for a moment, I did consider whether it was better to kill you.'

I seem to be hated to this extent... Eh?

This voice... It can't be...

Not looking at the dagger on my neck, I tried my best to turn my head and forced my eyes to see who was putting all his weight on me.

Then, as I saw the silhouette of the person who made me could not help but doubt my eyes, I understood why would Kamukura-kun choose me as a pawn.


	23. Chapter 23

The person who appeared behind me-- No matter how many times I blink, his appearance would not change-- had the same hairstyle and facial features as me. He looked identical to me. His voice... although I've never recorded my own voice before, it should be what others hear when I speak?

Which means... Kamukura-kun, disguised himself as me...

Come to think of it, out of everyone in this division, he has the closest build to me. In this season, wearing a jacket would conceal any minor differences in build. Disguising as me would be the best choice.

Then, I just fainted due to recovering some memories. So if for a short time, his actions and speech were different from usual, it would be seen as an effect of those memories.

But, disguising and breaking in with a duration of two plus hours after the meeting? Was he living somewhere nearby?

Eh? During the communication with Nanami-san to accept the wager, Hinata did appear on the screen...

'I asked Nanami to disguise herself.'

I see, if a Monomi could appear as Monokuma, Nanami could easily appear with Hinata's appearance. And on the screen, what looked like a half awake Hinata did not look natural, but was only seen as him not fully awake yet.

'I slept for a while and then deceived Hinata before breaking in. I'm already here, so he cannot object.'

Hearing my own voice speak so casually sounded weird. Anyway...

'Kamukura-kun... I never wanted to fight back anyway. So can we have a more casual conversational situation?'

'...'

After some moments of silence, he took back his knife, seemingly regretful. He let go of my hand from my back-- His actions were a bit unstable, thus stepping on my foot. Whether it was on purpose, I do not know. But based on my observation after switching on the light, he should be having a very high fever right now. Even when standing, he could easily feel faint. 

Getting a cold and not resting well, while rushing to places on such a cold night... obviously it would worsen his illness. Even if standing would make him feel faint and weak, then just now he still managed to pin me down. Does he hate me so much that he could use all the potential in his body to do that?

'I'll tell you about the situation in 30 minutes. Then you must leave without anyone noticing.'

Kamukura-kun went to invade my kotatsu without any reservations (although his appearance was that of mine) and opened a can of fruit juice. As he drank the juice, his icy cold stare rejected my plea of 'Can I come in for some warmth?' which I conveyed through my gaze.

...After switching on the light, not only he invaded my kotatsu, he also scavenged all the drinks and fruits in my refrigerator to scatter them on the table. The knife used to peel apple skin looked like the one that was just put on my neck.

Hinata-kun, your three year old child definitely needs to learn more common knowledge. But you who came to the enemy's territory in your dreams, is probably the biggest victim in this case.

'Do you hide your actions from Hinata-kun often?'

 'If it's something dangerous, it can only be done when he is sleeping. Or else he will not agree.'

'So despite having a high fever, you went to the enemy's territory at midnight huh...'

'On one hand, I predict that security will be heightened tomorrow, making breaking in harder. Tonight is the last chance to do so. On the other hands, even if the one moving is me, the burden on the body is heavier on Hinata. With the situation of how he's having a fever, as long as I don't disturb him on purpose, he would be able to sleep for very long.'

'Which means that in this time period, you're going to do something that he won't agree with?'

'Yeah.'

...Hinata-kun, I am very sure that your teaching approach is definitely problematic.

'The chit chat stops here. After thirty minutes, when the report is done, you are to disappear from my sight.'

'...Roger that...'

From an objective point of view, despite how arrogant he sounded, it did not sound like an order. Maybe this had to do with how the speaker's eyes were half closed due to the sleep inducing effect of the kotatsu. Indeed, he did not order anyone outside. All he did was to go toward the result that he had predicted.

He did not have to make sure that Komaeda Nagito, the pawn, would move like he had predicted. Nobody would notice someone whose presence was like air. My thoughts and actions, to him, was like that as well.

Although I already knew, but I only had this feeling now-- Kamukura Izuru was a person who could only understand and comprehend people as information sources.

Therefore, the concept of ordering others does not exist to him. Other people exist for him to make predictions and gather information. Even if something unexpected happened, it was still within the boundary of possibility, thus not affecting the outcome much.

...This is the 'hope' that I had seen that day. Actually, it was just an illusion I projected on myself. Or from Enoshima Junko's view, that day's events was just an ultimate display of 'despair'. Kamukura Izuru's existence is neither hope nor despair, because it was nothing. Therefore, whatever he projected on other people could be seen as their own wishes. On the 'zero' which is Kamukura izuru, I added the positive number of 'hope', causing me to see hope. Enoshima Junko added negative number of 'despair', so she saw despair. But he could only add zero to everything, so everything will end to to be zero in the end.

However, when together with Hinata Hajime who is a 'one' that will not return to zero, they could hold all the possibilities. They could become the most noble hope or become the worst despair. They could do nothing and do everything. They could become any extremity of opposites.

And now, they are still growing, so it is unknown on what they will become.

If they could grow well, they should be able to naturally become 'hope'... But their growth had stopped, so their direction had changed.

In order to go back to the right route, the Hinata-kun who was still bounded to 'that event at that place', has to be freed. All the prerequisites are present, except that Kamukura's flaws made him unable to realise this. And from the start, Hinata-kun had never thought about this.

Because it was too obvious, it became a blind point that they overlooked. It had to be conveyed to them.

...However, that is something that Kamukura-kun is unable to understand and something that Hinata-kun is unable to accept.

So just telling them the method would be useless. What is needed is an opportunity for them to discover it.

Creating the opportunity would be my mission.

Even so, the only way that I can think of it is a dangerous thing that will destroy everything when it fails.

Meh, if I forfeit my life as part of 'unluckiness', I should be able to exchange it for thing 'lucky' to ensure the probability of success?

'...It seems that eliminating you now would be better?'

'Handling the corpse would be troublesome, wouldn't it?'

'I know, so I have not done anything.'

As expected of Kamukura-kun, I found myself answering to everything truthfully. He only expressed this thought after listening to everything. Even if he was incapable of emotion, it was noticed by him?

Luckily, Hinata-kun was still asleep and unable to assist him in understanding my actual emotions. Or else, Hinata-kun will have more of a reason to eliminate me, to prevent my twisted feelings from affecting the direction of the growth of Kamukura-kun's humanity.

Someone who thinks of himself as a pervert is hopeless. 

Kamukura-kun seemed to be shivering. Is it because his temperature had increased so he felt warm even with the kotatsu? 

'I mostly get the situation. Here, for you.'

Taking my phone and meddling with it for a minute, Kamukura-kun took another Division phone and passed it to me. It seemed to be the type given to children to use. There was only the call function and it could not go on the internet. Only one number was recorded.

'Fixed number...?'

'It's the only store that delivers outside its area. Mainly sells sandwiches and hamburgers.'

'...So you're implying that I hide in that place until you tell me I can get out?'

He should give me the address too as well as living expenses. My wallet and handphone had been confiscated, so I was only left with few change.

'The address is in the memory of the phone. The key is inside the doorbell. There's cash in the writing desk drawer, including the rent that the tenant will collect a few days later.'

So it's an apartment? Because it was a place I did not know, I still need to check the map later. I don't know whether I should take the train or a taxi...

'Hmm...'

'Just walk for around half an hour. You don't have to take public transport.'

... So this distance was why your temperature increased? Anyway, if this distance was traveled by car, wouldn't it be too close to the 15th division?

'Huh... so I'll shut myself in there until you contact me?'

'It's possible I may forget to notify you after it has ended.'

'Please try to remember.'

I believe that Kamukura-kun has a selective memory, so I lowered my head so sincerely until my head hit the table.

'Also, even if a kotatsu is more comfortable, it's better to sleep on a bed.'

'......'

He definitely wants to sleep at the kotatsu after I leave.

'Hinata-kun will be angry fore sure.'

'......'

Although not much change could be seen, but from how he looked more awake, he looked like he was convinced like how one threatens to tell a child's parent about their wrongdoings.

However, before this, Hinata-kun should be angrier about Kamukura doing something so dangerous by himself...

'Then, you better take care of your body by sleeping soon. I'll slip out by myself when the time is right.'

'......'

'... Even if you want to chase me away with that flare, I am not you. If I do not wait until everyone is sleeping, I cannot guarantee that I would not be caught.'

My apartment is at the most inside part of this floor, so coming out from this block means having to pass by some rooms. If I met anyone while coming out... eh?

'Kamukura-kun, this is the third floor, right?'

Seeing Kamukura-kun point at the window, I tried to rebut him.

'This is the route that has the least possibility of being noticed.'

Indeed... If I could jump down without getting injured, dying or making too much noise.

Just to mention, the outer wall of my room had no gutters and any nearby trees was more than five metres apart. More importantly, the one living directly above me is Owari-san who is more sensitive than any creature and the one living directly underneath me is a fellow luckster who would chance upon anything. Even if I used a rope to climb down, it was almost impossible to be unnoticed.

'......'

Even when giving me wordless pressure, I cannot gain his trust by not doing something that I cannot do.

The staring battle lasted a while longer before it was paused by Kamukura's eyes being taken over by sleep.

'Anyway, I'll just wait until everyone sleeps until I slip out. Please don't mind me as I go rest first.'

'...You're the most dangerous.'

'Ahaha, I can't believe it.'

Although I think it's the truth.

It looks like if I am still here, he would be unable to relax and sleep, even if he was in a very sleepy state. Considering how he really needs to rest well now, should I take the risk and leave now?

...Although it was risky, the chances of meeting others when getting out of the room now should be low. I just have to be careful not to get captured by the security cameras.

 'Alright, then I...?'

Almost knocking into the table again, Kamukura-kun suddenly rushed out of the kotatsu, grabbed the fruit peels and empty cans to throw in the dustbin. Then he took his knife and rolled into the closet. 

The whole process took less than ten seconds. My room reverted to its original state and it did not look like anyone has entered.

And when he was about to close the closet door, I heard a knocking sound.

...Able to notice the nearing footsteps in a sleepy state while me who was awake did not notice anything... Maybe even if he was asleep, he'd immediately wake up if anyone went near him?

'Coming, who is it?'

'Ah, it's me, Naegi. Komaeda-senpai is not asleep yet?'

After ensuring that the room had no evidence that someone came, I opened the door to smile warmly at Naegi-kun.

'It's alright, I'm not going to sleep yet... Is it to ask me about the memories I have remembered?'

I turned around to make a 'please come in' gesture with my hand, but Naegi-kun still remained at the door. He lightly shook his head to me.

'No... It isn't much, so I'm not going to disturb.'

If it was anyone else, they would be suspicious of my invitation. If it was Naegi-kun, he would really be worried of interrupting my rest.

The one in the closet should really learn from him.

'Although I really want to know what kind of memories did Komaeda-senpai regain that time, but I'll leave it to when you are ready to say it. I just want to say, no matter what, right now Komaeda-senpai is our comrade.'

'...Me?'

Although it was something that was very like Naegi-kun to say, this still shocked me.

'In this year, even if you have not noticed, you have become different from then. So I believe in the current Komaeda-senpai, and hope that you can believe the current you. No matter what you remember, don't deny your current self.'

'......'

'We will definitely let Hinata-senpai realise that his method is wrong. One person cannot possibly carry all the burden. If the future he is working so hard to create does not include himself, then this future will not happen.'

'...Ah, indeed.'

'Kamukura as well. He must know that, since he wanted to 'become human', he should not stop at understanding human emotion through Hinata-senpai. He must understand and possess emotions by himself.'

'I agree...'

As expected from Naegi-kun, knowing their biggest flaws straight away.

...Maybe, if it was him...'

'So, we'll work together to point out their mistakes? Komaeda-senpai must remember that you're not just one person, there are all of us here... To us, with your help, we would feel much better,'

'......'

'Yeah, that's all I want to say... Sorry to disturb your rest.'

I feel that what I said was not worthy of such words. Naegi-kun lowered his face before leaving my view. 

'Th-that's it. Then, I'll leave. You should rest early. Good night.'

'Ah, oh... G-good night...'

After seeing Naegi-kun walk away and disappear into the corner of the staircase. I stood at the door without moving for some time.

Naegi-kun should not be able to know what I remember and thus what I planned. Even more so, he should not know that Kamukura-kun was here. He just wanted to say these to me because he was worried about me. However...

'...This is, the other Super High School Level Hope huh...'

Hope, does not only have one form...

'..Ah.'

Remembering about the other hope, I finally shut the door and returned to the room.

'......'

Because after closing the door, I waited for another few minutes to see that Kamukura-kun did not come out. After some hesitation, I slowly opened the closet door.

'......'

He had fallen asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me like 3 months to update this time orz. To be honest, I had a new job as a special education teacher, so the pay has increased and along with the workload, leaving me with very little free time. I'll probably attempt to update once a month next time... As usual, thanks for the comments and kudos given as it means a lot to me (:
> 
> Anyway, with Super Dangan Ronpa 2 released in English and Another Episode releasing in Japan, here's to more Kamukura screentime oh yeah. But he still needs more screentime really.
> 
> This chapter marks the end of the Komaeda point of view arc since he's going to be cooping himself at Kamukura's place from now on. Do look forward to the start of the Hinata point of view arc starting next chapter... if I get the time to update.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the start of the Hinata POV arc while the Komaeda POV arc has ended last chapter. This chapter is short but took a lot of time to translate as it covers more about how Hinata/Kamukura work together rather than the current situation. I really love the author's headcanon about the two of them so much.
> 
> ...I haven't forgotten about this fic. It's just that being in full-time employment leaves me with little free time and energy to translate this. I miss having more free time when I was a student but working means more money oh well...
> 
> Also added the KamuHina tag because OP did say that this is pretty much the only ship in this story.

After a year of coexisting of someone who could be considered another self, I was already used to waking up in strange places and did not think much about it.

However...

'What is this, Kamukura?!'

Upon waking up, I found myself brushing teeth in a strange room (that's not the problem), and what appeared in the mirror (which was the problem)... was... Komaeda's face...

This terrifying image and my horror could be felt by Kamukura, even if he was resting.

'...Good morning.'

'Ah, good morning... no! What the hell did you do?!'

If the above conversation was not happening within the mind and did not involve me actually using my vocal cords to speak, my shouts would probably attract attention from neighbours.

My conversations with Kamukura do not require voice. Thought can convey what we want to say to each other. To some extent, it was some kind of telepathy. But this does not mean we would know everything the other is thinking about (more like it's impossible t do so). We can only know what the other wants to convey. Because it does not require voice as a medium, we do not have to worry about noise or being intercepted. Also, it is more accurate than having conversations. After getting used, it is quite convenient-- but the only problem is how it is difficult for others to join in the conversation. When I am in control of the body, sometimes I may pay too much attention to the mental conversation and become oblivious to my surroundings. I had to depend on Kamukura's timely reminders to avoid colliding into electrical poles... Besides this, I also unknowingly say out what I want to tell Kamukura. To people, I would look like a dangerous individual who kept talking to himself.

At the time time, as his other half, I can honestly say that this guy has as many weaknesses as talents.

'I disguised myself as that pervert and infiltrated.'

'...What a way to say it-- That's not the problem, isn't it?!'

Because we can share memories, the memories that I did not notice due to my initial shock had started to return, letting me know most of what had happened... even if it was only an approximation. Kamukura's abnormal point of view was full of information which was unfathomable by normal people. To sift through all the unnecessary information such as the humidity of the area, the ingredients of the food he ate, in order to find out what he did in general, it was just like finding a few grams of gold in a mine with tons of minerals. Information on his exact actions had to be left out.

Most of the time, I was in control of body movement. Otherwise, Kamukura moved around with my assistance. If Kamukura acted alone, he would analyse everything around him too much. This would waste excessive brain power and leave too much useless information.

What did the researchers of the Hope Cultivation project do to our brain to create this kind of damn ability... Anyway, to Kamukura, everything he sees would be immediately analysed as information. When normal people look at the sea, they would think along the line of 'how wide'. With Kamukura, he would derived the depth, mineral content, wind speed from looking at the colour and opacity of the seawater. Everything he experienced, he would 'comprehend' and 'analyse' every single thing and choose what he wanted to know.

To him, this was the natural way of learning and he would not question anything. But to normal people... no, even to the talented ones, this is something that is too creepy. The first time I came into contact with this kind of overwhelming and unfathomable information, I blanked out instantly, like a burnt fuse.

Someone I could intercept this naturally activating ability that even Kamukura could not control. When Kamukura was in control while I assisted, I could select what information we needed to know for him to analyse. This method greatly reduced the burden on us.

And of course, if Kamukura acted independently without my assistance, too much junk information would be absorbed. This leaves me to spend a lot of time to filter out useful information to store as memories.

In other words, our roles were basically how Kamukura was in charge of information collection and analysis while I was in charge of selecting and organising information. Except during emergencies, usually we fulfilled our roles most naturally.

Therefore, while I tried to understand the current situation, I also started to discard useless information. I cannot do this like how files are deleted in a computer, but at least I had to prevent the worst and continue sifting through the content.

...Hmm, although this is unrelated to the current situation, the analysed information of Hanamura's cooking ingredients and steps should be counted as useful information. It could come in handy someday.

Anyway, the current situation is that this guy made the first move by disguising himself as Komaeda and infiltrated into the 15th Division when I was asleep. He did not do much persuading and Komaeda is out now. And after that, it has been two days.

I slept for two days... while taking on the identity of the 15th Division's Komaeda...

Speaking about that, that guy actually dared to sleep in front of a dangerous individual like Komaeda!

'Huh... so I somehow infiltrated into here. If I left now, the risk should be higher...'

'Yeah. Because of this, I created this situation.'

'Don't bring me into this so naturally! Also, you didn't brush the back of the teeth properly. Don't slack in this area.'

'......'

'Don't ask for a switch for something this small!'

His knowledge of adaptive skills is at full marks, but he had zero concept about it. It is a miracle that he has been able to live until now. Only regarding this, I had to thank Enoshima... Even if they were using each other, she did have to take care of Kamukura for a while... 

'There's no need to calculate the possibility of tooth decay. Hurry up and brush teeth. No matter how well you calculate the time, we don't need to wait until the last minute to change and get out.'

'Oh... Before that, there is one more problem.'

I have a very bad feeling about this.


	25. Chapter 25

Kamukura turned around to look at the state of the room from the door before telling me about the problems of the current state of this room.

'...Hey, did you really plan to act the part of Komaeda well?'

'Mostly, I think.'

'Then why is this room even messier than Souda's workshop?!'

According to my memory, Komaeda's cottage on the virtual island was kept rather neat (although I don't want to remember searching his cottage). Right now I could see snacks, drinks, books and random parts (where did they come from?!), along with unfolded blankets and clothes. Anyone who came here would definitely suspect something was wrong with Komaeda.

Yeah, I know that this guy could comprehend complicated theories and give impressive analyses. But he would conclude that cleaning is an inefficient action as Super High School Mr Sophisticated (more like Super High School Level Lazy Bum). Kamukura Izuru, you mark my words, I shall cut your troublesome hair today!!

Just to mention, the hair of our actual body is around shoulder length. During discussions in the inner world when we appear in front of each other (although there wasn't a need to since we could communicate through our mind), Kamukura and I still had our past appearance of long and short hair respectively. Neither of us made the effort to reconstruct our appearances, we just appeared like that naturally.

Of course, since these were just illusions in the mind, his hair would recover even when cut. It may be pointless... but at least I can vent.

...No matter how much I get angry, I still have to clean Komaeda's room after cooling down.

Because I was already used to it, my high efficiency cleaning (supported by Kamukura Izuuru) reverted the room back to its original state in minutes. Although it's just temporarily placing various items and rubbish to its original place, I still had no time to do vacuuming. As long as nobody comes to this room, nobody should notice anything strange. Without a word of apology and a little more compliant than usual, Kamukura told me where everything went. Maybe this is how he admits his faults.

... Anyway, if he admits his faults, he should change accordingly. Speaking about cleaning ability, isn't this lazy bum much better than me? His adaptive living skill level is already maxed, but why does he not use it...

'Huh... Why did you disguise yourself as Komaeda anyway?'

'We have similar height, are solitary and it's normal to act suspiciously. The conditions can't be better. To not make use of this would be a waste.'

'Ah... it's so as you say...'

However, comments of 'no friends' and 'it's normal to act suspiciously'... Although these were true, but it's too critical when said by Kamukura who really has the least right to say this......

'And if he's not gotten rid off, I don't feel comfortable to make any moves.'

I totally agree with this.

'But wouldn't choosing Komaeda hinder you a lot? Like the shade of his skin... and especially his left arm. That's a prosthetic right? It's not something we can bluff through acting.'

'The skin that will be exposed has been dealt with. As long as nobody sees when showering, it would be alright. For the prosthetic part, his fake hand already looks so real so it would be difficult to tell. It can also make some basic movements. If we don't use our left hand to do fine work, nobody would notice. Just in case, I also applied a layer of latex on it so it would feel like inorganic material. Even if anyone touched it, it could fool them.

'But...'

'Among other alternatives, I cannot tell what kind of person the fortune teller is and I cannot hide this from the animals owned by the breeder. Those are impossible to disguise as,.'

'No, I'm just saying, why was there a need to infiltrate...'

While discussing, we had already changed into uniform and walked towards the canteen with Kamukura being in charge of movement.

It would be impossible for me to act the role of Komaeda well. Firstly, I can't even imitate his voice. So to be safe, Kamukura is in charge of taking action in the 15th Division... But if possible, I still want to take control during meal times. The cooking of Super High School Level Cook is really appealing. Letting someone like Kamukura who does not appreciate it and only analyses, would be such a waste.

...Meh, I'll have to endure this in order to get Hanamura's recipe. Although even if all the information was taken note of and this guy could cook it, I am very certain that he would not do so.

'Because it would be too difficult to infiltrate from the outside, so even if that pervert did something strange, it would be hard to manipulate the information of other divisions.'

'...Is it really just this? Is there anything else you're hiding from me?'

'...A lot.

'Hey...'

Even though he truthfully confessed 'I'm hiding many things from you', he clearly showed that he did not want to elaborate further on what he was hiding.

Could this half-hearted honesty be counted as playing around with me?


	26. Chapter 26

There was a choice of Japanese and Western meals, but due to disguising as Komaeda, the toast and milk combo had to be chosen. This made me kind of angry with Komaeda's taste... Oh well, I'm not the one eating it anyway.

'Oh yeah, how did you cover up the abnormal amount of food the last two days?'

Because of Kamukura's troublesome ability and me not being around to control the amount of energy he consumes, he would have used up a lot of energy. Although his meals were like that of an average person, he had to eat an extra surplus of good constantly. This is why whenever I wake up, the room would be full of snack remains... Komaeda did not seem to the type to snack, so it would be strange if he suddenly snacked constantly.

'When infiltrating, I've brought three days supply of food and stuffed it into his fridge.'

'... Even if the room is well stocked, how to eat during working hours?'

'I skived.'

'......'

Ah, speaking about this, according to his memories, he had not worked before... Is it really alright?!

'I used the excuse of wanting to be alone to sort out my thoughts. I only went to the daily meetings.'

'Hmm... It would be best to avoid others in this feverish state, especially Tsumiki.'

'The bruise from her care has not healed yet.'

'Eh...?'

'Luckily we thought of this possibility first, so at the same place...'

'You knocked your head?!'

'...No, I drew a bruise and placed bandages.'

'Oh...'

I had thought that Komaeda made another death flag... But Kamukura's hatred towards him did not start today. The death flags until now have not been activated. The power of luck is indeed scary.

'But having such close contact with Tsumiki and she did not notice your fever? How did you do that?'

'I bumped into her.'

'......?'

'So she thought that my face heated up because she bumped into me.'

'...Wait.'

'She hurriedly checked for injuries then ran away crying.'

'I did not know of such important information!'

'...89D?'

'Even if you tell me the information in numbers it doesn't mean anything!'

I should calm down... Now is not the time for this kind of small interruption......

There are other more important things to confirm......

'Then, besides resting and collecting information, what did you do for the past two days? It seemed that when you were skiving, you also set up something... what was it?'

'Smoke screens.'

'To create confusion during emergency right...'

'And explosives.'

'...Hey.'

'It doesn't have much power. It can only destroy part of a wall or floor to create a more realistic chaotic situation when needed.'

'Just how much did you bring here... Are you sure others won't notice?'

 'The breeder and his chihuahua is in charge of checking for suspicious items.'

...Why is the job of a security dog given to a chihuahua?

'Before that, I spent a night letting all the dogs become familiar with the smell of the setup items, so that they will not treat them as suspicious objects.'

'G-good job...'

Kamukura training chihuahuas is an unimaginable image... and right now he had Komaeda's appearance...

Anyway, why can't I find memories of such a thrilling image? This time, the share memories are the least. Maybe it was due to illness?

'Ah, I'm sorry for leaving all these troublesome things to you while I was sleeping for the past two days.'

'...It's alright. I was hiding things from you so we're even.'

Really, what's up with this weird half-hearted honesty...

Forget about it. It's not the first time I've been played with by this guy. Up til now, he did this in order to use better methods to reach my objectives, so I cannot be angry with him.

...Although I wish that he would not take action according to my wishes only and also possess his own wishes. Acting according to his wishes... Right now, it is something he is still unable to do.

I am in charge of 'will' while Kamukura was in charge of 'talent'. We are perfect when together. If we are separated, I am just the memory remains of 'Hinata Hajime' and Kamukura would be just an artificially created human AI. Both of us are just incomplete parts.

'Then, now that our body has recovered, I've woken up and you seem to have finished all the preparations, shall we start moving?'

Even though I have no idea what Kamukura has in mind, I have no doubts in his ability.

Kamukura who had finished breakfast and kept the cutlery, turned his gaze towards the core trio of the 78th batch at the table beside him. Then he made 'Komaeda' show a thoughtful expression.

'How about leaving all the action to me?'

'Eh? If you think it's better...'

'You should get ready then.'

 ...Get ready?'

'To be safe, I will make the excuse of settling own emotions and not mention to them what Komaeda remembered-- If it is just me, I am unable to accurately read their responses.'

'......Ah.'

'If we win this bet, they must keep their promise to not stop our actions.'

'...Yeah.'

'Therefore, we can only think about winning now.

'I know...'

Kamukura seemed to be be determining my determination as he gave me his answer.

'Your objective, is also my objective.'


	27. Chapter 27

The 15th Division used to hold monthly meetings. Due to recent circumstances, it had become daily. One thing for sure was that nobody would do the minutes for the meetings.

Basically they are discussing what they should hide from headquarters...

Being the one who was being discussed about, this situation sure felt uneasy... It feels like as if I was the culprit at a school trial...

At times like this, Kamukura's biggest weakness became an advantage.

'Then, we will confirm the status of those guarding the thumbdrive.'

After Togami spoke, everyone took out their thumbdrives and placed it on the table. Sonia collected them, except for Naegi and 'Komaeda'.

...Anyway, the unnoticeable young office worker seems to be the impostor's role today?

'Then, we will start today's lottery.'

When all the thumbdrives have been collected and placed into a box, Sonia took the box and let everyone take one thumbdrive each.

'...Kamukura.'

'All of these are fake.'

'So Togami was trying to deceive everyone, starting from himself?'

'Should be the case. From the start, the real one was never in there.'

Although the thumbdrives look exactly the same to normal and even the gifted people, Kamukura who possessed extraordinary knowledge, was able to tell them apart. I, who had his knowledge, could tell as well. Koizumi took out one with a scratch near the logo. Mioda took out one with a slightly misplaced logo. Nidai took out one with a loose cover. Tanaka took one with a hair stuck on it. Souda's thumbdrive had oil stains... These details that will take Kirigiri a long time to notice, is information that Kamukura can receive as soon as he laid eyes on these details.

Because I do not remember most of the details of the original thumbdrive, I did not know much details about it (except for the thumbdrive that was used to backup Nanami's memory and data). Every time I used it, I had to ask Kamukura. Anyway, I do not remember how the original thumbdrive looked like, so I obviously could not tell if the real thing was in that pile. But since Kamukura said that it was not inside, it should be the case.

According to Togami's personality, he would want to deceive the enemy by deceiving his comrades first and guard the real thing himself... Although other people also used this strategy, there was a possibility that Togami could have been kept in the dark. However, out of everyone here, the one mostly likely to do something like this was still Togami Byakuya.

Then, the next important thing is to check if he carried the real thing on him or hid it somewhere else to guard it... If it was Togami, he would be more likely to carry it with him. That kind of conceited guy would think that carrying it with him is safest...

With Togami's brains, it would be possible that he was making use of this kind of thinking to set a trap. After knowing the truth of Kamukura's talent and assuming that Kamukura was able to gain intel, he could predict that Kamukura knew that the real thing was not in the lottery and guess that it was with him. Because of his objectiveness, Kamukura's view and analysis of human psychology and actions would seem very robotic. With his lofty attitude, he should be able to reach the same conclusion as me.

I still think that it was most probable, but...

Even though it was difficult to imagine Togami's personality, he placed a lot of trust in those he acknowledged (which he would not admit no matter what).... In this case, Kirigiri and Naegi are very likely to be entrusted with the real thing. This kind of thing may not fit his image, but it was something he could do, is the best way to mess with Kamukura's preditions.

If he was really using himself to set a trap, the probability of the thumbdrive being with Kirigiri or Naegi would be very high.

How headache inducing. Thinking like this would lead to nowhere. It would be better to wait for new clues to appear.

The longer that Kamukura infiltrates, the more likely he would be noticed... At least there were some last resorts prepared, so if anything went wrong, escape was still possible.

...Of course it would be best if it did not happen.

After every lottery, abnormalities were reported and suggestions were made.

The overall people in charge are Togami as chairperson and Sonia as vice chairperson while Kirigiri was the secretary. This seemed no different from the usual management.

The current heads of security are Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama huh... Because the guards are mostly from the Kuzuryuu Group, this would of course be the case. Although having yakuza as guards is very strange...

Koizumi was in charge of surveillance positioning and control. This may seem like a surprising designation, but come to think of it, it's making use of Super High School Level Photographer's talents? She should have wide knowledge of vantage points and eliminating blind spots...

Anyway, now is the best time to get hold of the situation.

If there was a need to go out, groups of 3-5 people would leave together along with at least 4 guards. Within the division, it is also best to move in groups. Hmm, this means...

'For the last two days, the groups were as followed: Heir, Princess, Detective, and Serial Killer; Luckster, Fortune Teller, and Swimmer; Gangster and Swordswoman; Nurse, Musician, Traditional Dancer and Photographer; Chef, Team Manager, and Gymnast; Imposter, Mechanic, and Breeder. This may be subject to change later, but basically this is it.'

Kamukura noticed the question I was about to ask while making 'Komaeda' show a hesistant expression.

'Letting Komaeda be alone for 2 days and not suspecting anything... You all really place so much trust in Komaeda. Who knows what kind of dangerous thing he will do?!'

'He looks like he might cooperate now...'

'...Of course which ever group he goes to will get more scrutiny huh?'

'Hmm. Pros will be that every group knows the situation now.'

'Cons is that he cannot fit in with any of the groups.'

When choosing to disguise as Komaeda, I had already predicted such a situation.

But if I were to say it, even if I want to avoid the feelings of that mad guy, if I could, I also really want to run away when I see him. The more dangerous a person is, it is better to keep him close to monitor him! We've already experienced what would happen if we left Komaeda alone in the New World Program before!


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dangan Ronpa 3 is killing me with the feels so I updated this after since like forever. full time employment eats up all of my time gdi and i don't even know if I can still update. 
> 
> I've summarised the rest of the story in case if I never finish this which is very likely. There's still an entire Naegi POV arc after this current Hinata POV arc and a short Kamukura POV arc. How did OP even write this?!  
> http://silveryogi.tumblr.com/post/40306178880  
> http://silveryogi.tumblr.com/post/40843891697  
> http://silveryogi.tumblr.com/post/41244167811
> 
> Please hope with me for KamuHina coexistence after SDR2... I feel like it could happen, especially after Future Arc episode 6. Just as long it's not Kamukura taking on Hinata's identity permanently after SDR2... And then there's Despair Arc episode 10's ending. I just want both of them to exist at the same time ;A;
> 
> Obviously this won't be consistent with DR3 seeing that it was written back in 2012 by the original author. Nonetheless, please enjoy. Anyway, to recap, now Kamukura/Hinata are infiltrating into Future Foundation to get back Nanami AI from their bet and has disguised as Komaeda.
> 
> Italics is Kamukura mentally conversing with Hinata by the way.

Although I feel this way, I still don't want to be the unlucky one to look after Komaeda. If it's just me, he won't be interested in a reserve course student. But because Kamukura and I cannot be separated, letting Kamukura and Komaeda be together in any way stresses me out to the extent of having holes in my stomach.

If Kamukura's first intrinsic emotion is killing intent, that would be too sad... no, scary! Even scarier is the fact that Komaeda has the ability to cause such a situation.  

...It might be even achieved now?

'...Kamukura, about Komaeda...'

_'I've planned on how to get rid of his body. Don't worry.'_

'You didn't tell me?! And you already mentioned killing him?!'

_'...This is my first wish from myself. If I don't finish this, I will not be able to really become human.'_

'R-really... No! What kind of human do you want to become?

...Ah, Komaeda indeed led to Kamukura's character development, in the negative sense.

Should that pervert be gotten rid of for the sake of Kamukura...

Outside our mental meeting, the real world meeting seems to be ending soon. Those who noticed that 'Komaeda' wanted to say something had diverted their sight away and pretended not to see. Only Naegi looked at the two members around him apologetically and tried his best to express a feeling of 'I'm sorry.'

So it was indeed difficult for Komaeda to be in a group... Anyway, this is advantageous to us, so it should be a lucky development.

Also, besides Koizumi's group, all the groups have at least one person who knew what happened in the New World Program last time, so they would be vigilant about Komaeda's actions. Koizumi's group is all females, so Komaeda could not join too.

...Hold on.

If we think about it calmly, no matter how troublesome Komaeda's twisted personality is, whether his thumbdrive is the real deal, it would be impossible for Komaeda to be chosen?

He was stated to be Kamukura's 'first pawn'.

'... Are they waiting for us to contact Komaeda?'

_'Should be. At least the heir thinks so.'_

'Is there surveillance?'

_'Not yet to that extent. Just closer monitoring.'_

Oh... so that's the case...

No matter what kind of group Komaeda was in, he would not care about his own position and only support where 'hope' was stronger. If the content was not related to hope, anywhere that was stronger could make him willing to become a stepping stone. Therefore, to any side, he is a dangerous yet beneficial existence.

Within the 15th Division, our only pawn was Komaeda. To the 15th Division who cannot grasp our actions, Komaeda is similarly their entry point. To us, Komaeda Nagito is our only choice. If he thinks that the 15th Division has more hope than our side... he could happily assist us then turn around and betray us.

... I'm only thinking of the current situation, yet I feel like getting rid of Komaeda is safer...

'Then, today's meeting has come to an end/'

Togami ended the meeting with these words. The students also left their seats and walked to the doors of the meeting room. Among them, 'Komaeda' sat on his seat with a pensive expression.

'Komaeda-senpai...? Do you have anything to discuss?'

The first one to approach was Naegi. From his gaze full of worry and hesitation, he is likely to convince the groups to accept Komaeda or be in a group with Komaeda.

...I feel that if Naegi really grouped with Komaeda, this lucky pair will be our biggest enemy.

'Oh... I don't know how to word this...'

'What happened?'

'It's not much... I just had a call from Kamukura, ahaha.'

After a moment of silence, there was a sound of dropped documents.

... Honestly, I was surprised too.

By the cool smile that Kamukura showed with Komaeda's appearance.

Although in reality, I can't see my own face to be certain, but I know that that is definitely like Komaeda's own smiling face... so it's even creepier and untolerable.

Some more this is my body. If I cannot stand it, I cannot imagine the immense pressure that Kamukura faces from actually acting as him.

'Hold on, Kamukura. After this, I'll let you half kill Komaeda.'

_'Fully kill.'_

_'_ 'The other half is for me.'

_'I want three quarters.'_

I don't know how to three quarter kill, but this is our mood right now.

'W-what did you say--!!'

'What's this? Say it clearly, you bastard!'

'Is this real? Komaeda-senpai?'

'What's the content of the call?'

Facing a barrage of questions, Kamukura's version of Komaeda seemingly did not get why everyone was so surprised (clearly acting dumb), took out his phone, and showed a log from an unknown number.

...That seemed to have really come from our phone.

'There wasn't much important content... So I hesitated on telling...'

'Enough. Please repeat the contents.'

Those who already walked towards the door halted and perked their ears to listen carefully.

'Sorry that I can't recall it word for word, but the content is mostly on reporting the situation here and preventive measures...'

'And then you really said it?!'

'Huh? Is there anything that shouldn't be know?n?'

'You're the most troublesome person!!!!!!'

I agree!'

'But without information, Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun won't be able to take action?'

'You dared to tell them information this readily?!'

'If they don't take action, we can't capture them?'

Capture... As the other of the the person who is the target, it sounds really foreboding... But if it's Komaeda, he should say...

'C-capture?'

'Although the condition for winning is to capture the target, but it also means to guard the item?'

'Komaeda' looked around the room with a challenging gaze and sighed disappointedly.

'This is a battle of 'hope' of both sides. If you can't attack the other side due to not being able to grasp them, and have no intention of doing so in order to just defend, it's not going to help?'

'...Komaeda-senpai's meaning is...'

'I'm just saying, I want to be sure that everyone puts in effort for hope.'

'Komaeda' smiled widely, bringing a cold air of madness.

...Hold on, Kamukura, I'll let you kill four-fifths of him.

'How Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun will move after receiving information, or whether they will believe my information, I cannot know all these. But, they should have taken action? Compared to me who has been used as a pawn by Kamukura-kun, what will everyone realise here? Only just guarding for a week? Can this level of determination defeat Hinata-kun's hope? Really, can the results of this wager achieve your own wishes?'

Kamukura...?

'If you retreat due to being afraid of confrontation, nothing will change in the end. This wager is a battlefield where both sides battle for hope. Only those who believe and follow in their own will can stay until the end.'

......

Is this... intended for me?

'Who will follow through their beliefs, which side's hope is brighter... isn't this a clash of two different types of Super High School Level hopes?'

'Komaeda-senpai!'

Naegi's shout gave me a shock. This shows that everyone got moved by this speech.

'I believe in working hard to create an ending where nobody gets hurt. This belief is just weakness to you?'

After going through mutual killing and betrayal, he can still say such innocent words...

Or is it because he's been through it, so he believes in it even more?

'Maybe it sounds naive, maybe it cannot happen, but this is our belief and we will put in all our efforts to achieve it.'

'Even if you tried so hard, you didn't manage to reach to Hinata-kun?'

'I cannot do it alone, but everyone can do it together. If there is really a need to attack the target. then what should be crushed should be the stubbornness of Hinata-senpai and Kamukura!'

'......'

'I've lost enough... I don't want to lose another comrade again!'

Naegi... He did lose comrades in Enoshima's game, and they will never wake up again... But he still protected the remnants of despair and treated them as comrades...

'So, whether it's Hinata-senpai, Kamukura, or Komaeda-senpai, we can't lose anyone or make them their enemy. This time, we must create an ending where we won't lose anyone... this is our hope!'

You are the true Super High School Level Hope, Naegi Makoto. If Kamukura met you first instead of Enoshima, everything... would be so different...

Meh, this is just meaningless platitudes.

I was never your comrade, so no matter how hard you try, it will be useless...

'Sorry, Kamukura... If it wasn't due to my opinions, you should be one of them... If it's with these guys, you might become true hope.'

_'...We are inseparable existences. You've taken the burden of responsibility of what I've done, and I take action to fulfill your wishes.'_

'I'm sorry...'

_'......'_

Facing Naegi's determined stare, 'Komaeda' pulled back on his madness and gazed back at him in an unbelievably calm manner.

What was different from this and just now's acting, this is an expression to show my feeling of determination after becoming one with Kamukura.

Maybe it would not look like Komaeda. But this is the respect that should be given to Naegi who still tried so hard to reach out to us.

Then, I steeled my determination.

'I've told Kamukura-kun before, that this kind of drawing lots to determine who would look after the real thing would most likely end up with Naegi-kun or I.'

'Eh...?'

Not just Naegi, everyone's eyes opened wide.

'I don't know if Kamukura-kun will believe what I said, or what he would do if he believed me... If he believes his predictions and is certain his pawns would move like he expected... when you get the target 'peacefully', you tell him whatever I've said just now.'

'Komaeda' smiled warmly and said that to Naegi. Then he whispered at a level that only Naegi could hear.

'Notify Togami and the others that tonight at the meeting room, I will tell you all what I remembered... Probably this is why Hinata-kun stubbornly rejects the goodwill of his 'comrades'.'


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kamukura suffers from pretending to be Komaeda, this chapter is about how the actual Komaeda is doing... so take note that it's Komaeda's POV after the previous Hinata/Kamukura POV.
> 
> An unexpected update to celebrate that Hope Arc basically made split personality KamuHina canon. I'm just so glad as I've been shipping them since 2013 and finally it happened. The red and green eyes means they become one and so married. But actually more like exasperated parent Hinata needing to mind his precocious toddler Kamukura. Of course, this image is from this fic too ehehe.
> 
> Otherwise 4 uni exams in November I'm dying.

Not sure if this is the price of 'unluckiness' to pay or it will inevitably happen, but anyway, on the second day after hiding at the place Kamukura-kun had instructed, I also had the cold

Maybe Kamukura spread it to me, or it could be due to walking outside for two hours from getting lost in the cold wind of the early morning. At that kind of timing, there was nobody to ask for directions. I should be lucky enough since I was not seen by patrolling police as a suspicious person or gotten robbed. I had nothing to do, so I fell asleep for two days.

Has Kamukura-kun recovered from his cold? I should be more concerned for myself though.

'Good morning? Do you feel better?'

A courteous greeting came from the coffee table. Looking at the clock next to the bed, I realised it should be more of 'good afternoon'. Then I saw the tablet device and looked dazedly towards the girl on the screen who waved to me.

Around a minute later--

'...Good morning, Nanami-san.'

 

Finally recovered my ability to think.

I still do not get how this tablet device without any internet connection could communicate with Nanami-san from an unknown location and I do not intend to understand. Just like how it does not matter whether Nanami-san was sent to monitor me or spoke to me out of goodwill, I am just grateful that someone bothered to check up on me.

...Anyway, Nanami-san is just an electronic AE? Why is she holding a gaming device and looking intently at it every time I see her? Is there a need to be programmed this way?

Meh, this is the habits of a Super High School Level Gamer.

'You sound hoarse. Maybe you should go see a doctor? You might have tonsillitis...'

'Ah, it's alright, I'm no longer feverish. Although I feel a bit dizzy, I feel much better.'

Even if I have not recovered from cold, it's not the time to visit a doctor... and my identity documents are all with Kamukura-kun so I could not visit a doctor even if I wanted to.

 

'Really? That's great... but don't force yourself?'

'Ahaha, to worry about someone like me...'

My voice sounded more normal after I drank a glass of water. Maybe I could recover after one more day of rest.

It would be good if Kamukura recovered. Although I do not know what they will do, but failure is not an option for them. Even if he was not that good at combat, but he could at least escape even if injured. It is exactly of this weakness that he should have made other preparations... 'Not good' is only just a comparison on the sliding scale of being talented, so as long as he is not fighting Pekoyama-san, Owari-san and Nidai-kun at the same time, he should be alright in any other situation.

...In other words, I am more worried that he would forget that I am waiting here after he finishes what he wants to do.

'Did Nanami-san contact Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun? How's their situation?'

 

'By last night, Kamukura had completely recovered. He estimates that Hinata should wake up today too. When the two of them are present, I am actually more concerned for everyone in the 15th Division.'

'In imind, they complement each other. But in terms of ability, it is more accurate to say that they will fulfill their maximum potential when they cooperate.'

There was that one time when both Hinata-kun and Kamukura-kun were awake at the same time when they first went to the Future Foundation to declare war... Kamukura's display at that time was their cooperation mode? So Kamukura-kun acting alone would not take the risk to approach the division...

From the information of their status, it is difficult to understand how do they cooperate and delegate to use talents. Although I am really curious, but it is not an important issue.

It is more important to know their weakness. When Hinata-kun is in control, Kamukura-kun cannot use his talents fully. When Kamukura-kun is in control, Hinata-kun cannot have intense emotional responses. If these limits are broken, the one in control will suffer from much damage.

...If this deduction is not wrong, then even I might even be able to defeat them.

'Hmm? Do you have anything to ask me, Nanami-san?'

While reheating a sandwich in the microwave oven, I saw Nanami-san sighing on the screen, so I asked her.

'Komaeda-san... Are you helping Hinata and Kamukura now because you think they are closer to hope?'

Ah, to Nanami-san who really wants to help Hinata-kun and hopes that he loses this wager, my actions will make her feel conflicted.

'Nope. It's more of I feel that they have not become 'hope', so I am doing this.'

'...Eh?'

 

'Naegi-kun is unmistakably 'hope'. Without a busybody like me, he will definitely continue going on his own path to spread hope to more people.'

'...then how about Hinata and Kamukura?'

'Hmm, they could become a shining hope, but they do not have such intentions. So I want to get closer to them to see what I could do.'

This should not be a lie, probably.

I just want to try something.

 

'Meaning that, Komaeda-kun wants to cultivate 'hope'?'

'You could say that. After all, Kamukura-kun is the origin of our 'hope'.'

'Ah... That incident... huh...'

 

'...Even if I realised that I imposed myself on Kamukura-kun then, I still could not treat the light of hope from him as an illusion.'

 

Upon remembering, every time I closed my eyes, that image would appear vividly in my mind.

Was that lucky or unlucky, I could not decide yet... But what I am sure of, is that to the current Komaeda Nagito, is where everything began.

 


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback chapter when Komaeda returns to Hope's Peak during the chaos caused by the reserve course students.  
> It's very difficult to translate and despairing to read because of the Junko appearances.  
> Wrong way to start a new year along with celebrating Hinata + Kamukura's birthday, but yeah have a chapter for once.

Come to think of it, it was hard to determine if the situation I experienced was due to being lucky or unlucky.

Because my guardian was found out to have siphoned part of the inheritance from my parents, I had to leave the school for a while to settle some legalities. And this was when the reserve course students conducted acts of violence towards the school.

If I returned to school earlier, I would have hidden in the old campus together with the other main course students. If I returned to school later, the campus would have been locked down by a rescue team. But I returned just right in between these two time periods without knowing what had happened to Hope's Peak.

Of course, once I returned to school, I knew that something was wrong. But to truly understand what happened, it was half a day later as I mixed around with the violent reserve course students.

Unlike famous talented students, Super High School Level Good Luck is originally just a normal person. It is difficult to find any information of them on the news. Even if one knew that every main course batch had such a person, reserve course students who did not mix with the main course students had no way of knowing what kind of person Super High School Level Good Luck was. Therefore, in the chaos, I was treated as if I was part of the reserve course, and I did not suffer from any damage.

The fact that the reserve course had no specific uniform had saved me. If I wore the uniform of the main course, I would have been done for. Although reserve course students have uniforms, but not many of them wore uniforms in this chaos, so nobody noticed me as I wore casual clothes.

If I say it this way, it sounds like I had observed the situation calmly then. The reality was that I was unable to accept reality and only followed others blindly.

Even if I noticed that something wasn't quite right with my brain (but it was more normal than it is now), in the environment of two thousand mad people, regardless of civilians or dangerous people, it was impossible to be unaffected by that madness and retain one's own pace.

...Although one person had still done it.

Anyway, whatever bit of reasoning I had left could only pray for the main course students who represented hope to overcome this despairing crisis and survive.

If I could enter school without obstructions, I should be able to escpae easily too... But the destruction caused the surroundings felt foreboding. It felt like if I did anything slightly different, I would be eliminated as an outcast. Not even trying to escape, even blending in was tiring.

Then, when I wondered if I was becoming insane under all that psychological pressure, an announcement rang through the school.

'Yahoo~ Dearest reserve course maggots~' 

That strange emotion-invoking and cute, yet piercing voice, made me feel so numb that I could not tell if I was feeling tired or going insane -- Maybe the others were worse off than me-- to direct their attention to the first thing that sounded like language that day.

Oh, I forgot to say, within the two thousand mad people, I could not hear any voices except meaningless growling or things like curses. I almost forgot how to string words into sentences until I heard what was considered language for the first time that day.

'I'll tell everyone a des~pairing good news. Ahaha~ Now, the school has asked for help from the army and is completely in a lockdown in twenty minutes time.'

The voice changed into a cold tone, as if giving information. Nobody could react to this.

'According to what the enemy is equipped with, they are likely to use poisonous gas or chemical weapons... Ahahaha!'

Her tone changed again, which led everyone into confusion.

'Meh, of course it will be like this... To Hope's Peak, to this world, the reserve course are just lowly insects... There's no law against spraying insecticide on insects... If you're like insects, you should die like insects... to be stepped on to be squeezed to be hit to be stabbed to be burnt to be drowned to be choked by mouldy strawberry mochi to die from the pressure of weekly manga drafts-- Ha... Ha... This is just... beautifully... despairing that one can't stop salivating! Ahahaha!'

What the heck is this super mad person who is more mad than those two thousand mad people saying?

Army? Poison? Being killed?

Which country's army will throw poisonous gas towards students? That person's brain must have been eroded from poison right? Who would believe...

'No---!!!!'

Ah... They believe...

'No... I don't want to die...'

'Haha, so that's how it is? Is it? This is it. Indeed! Anyway, we just need to rot to become fertiliser for the talents!'

'I'm not an insect I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect  I'm not an insect I'm not an insect I'm not an insect ...'

Oh right, the people here already lost their rationality...

Oh no, if this goes on...

'Eh~? You still need to die with an insect's dignity~ Only at this point of time that you want to lick the boots of the protected talents in the old campus and wag your tails? Ah, insects have no tails to wag? If it's a mealworm, you can't even tell between its head and tail, ahahaha!'

'Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh---!!!!!'

The first person had started screaming and running towards the old campus...

What happened next can be imagined even without seeing it.

I wanted to shout 'calm down!', but I could not produce any sound even if I opened my mouth. It was as if something intangible was squeezing my breath, and I had not realised that I stopped breathing.

So, I only thought that I was calm?

I already knew that was a lie and that I was not part of the violent reserve course students, yet I rushed towards the old campus with them.

I ran without noticing.

It is estimated that hundreds of people died from the stampede. Nobody noticed what they bumped into or stepped on. If I did not stop moving, I would become an unrecognisable mass of flesh.

Although I was not injured, what I saw stunned me. When I absentmindedly picked up a round object, I could not even tell if it was a glass bead or an eyeball. My mind was a blank from trying to escape reality and could not comprehend anything else.

My instincts told me that if I continued moving forward, all that is left is insane despair.

I could already hear cries from the old campus.

How many people were scratching metal for such a mind-twisting and piercing sound to occur? What language was this screaming in, to produce such a wide-spread sorrow?

I wanted to scream to block out these scary sounds, but I could not produce any sounds. My body had lost all control, as if it was no longer my body.

There was nothing I could do. There was nothing to prove that I exist.

This feeling of being pushed beyond my limits, I had no way to know whether it was fear or not.

Thinking processes had stopped much earlier. I did not even notice the fact that I had stopped being rational. I had completely degraded into something like a worm.

Without any will, I had become one with that piercing sound. There is no more 'me' left.

When that cry had become a curse of despair, I had ceased to exist.

In that despairing hive mind, no individual was allowed to exist.

So my will and my very existence had been eliminated.

Then, I stretched out my hand without realising it.

Regardless if I died or despaired, just as long as I can leave this place, nothing else mattered.

There is no reasoning behind this. It is just instinct. Wanting to leave, wanting to grab something that can take me away from here. Never mind if such a thing did not exist. I just stretched out my hand instinctively.

The more I could not grab it, the more I wanted to grab it. 

Maybe, being unable to grab anything, is the most despairing thing.

Anyone, anything.... take me away, drag me down...

Please... answer me...

As long as... I can grab something... just... let me 'exist' once more...

I...

'If despair is caused by the reality of death, then is hope caused by wanting to live on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The voice at the end is Kamukura by the way... Which he also says in Chapter 18 or 19 and it triggers this memory of Komaeda. Thought it would be a nice place to end this chapter. Until next time!


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ends Komaeda's flashback of the despair incident. Probably I should place a warning for some gore in here?
> 
> Hopefully I'll get back to updating Hinata + Kamukura's POV next time... Otherwise, happy belated New Dangan Ronpa V3 release and happy Chinese New Year (which is how I manage to get time to update this)!
> 
> Not going to spoil but my fave character is Saihara and so much feels for him... Meanwhile a despairing wait for English release while knowing all the spoilers ready...

......?

'This way, whether it is despair or hope, these are such simple things.

I already could not understand anything... yet... why when I hear this voice of someone speaking to me, I could understand what he said?

Even though I could not hear clearly due to the ringing in my ears, it was unbelievable that this voice and the words clearly etched into my consciousness.

After opening my eyes... No, my eyes were already open, I glanced at my surroundings. I noticed that I fell on where I was sitting and my wrist was bleeding from a wound that seemed to be scratched by a fingernail.

...To make such a deep wound with a fingernail... did I do such a crazy thing? Without knowing, why did I try to commit suicide to escape that despair?

Ah, that's not even 'trying', I already tried to do it.

That was an effective escape method anyway.

'...Save...me...'

 I wanted to get help from the person in front of me. But no matter what I did, no sound came out. I could not see the person in front of me who was perhaps judging me.

Besides the sneakers he wore, I could only see the brown hair that fell on the floor.

'...Do you want to live?'

'......'

It was something like that.

I could not really remember what did I shout to myself, but something seemed to have reverberated within me.

I did not stretch out my hand towards him because I wanted to live. More like I was afraid of the inescapable despair that threatened to swallow me... Or simply, I just wanted to grab on something.

...In other words, I caught onto the only hope which was in front of me.

The person who appeared in front of me had no trace of despair, despite being in an environment which was emanating with immense despair.

His mere existence drove away the madness of despair far away.

It feels like pouring a bucket of ice water on a feverish person?

'Is that your hope?'

'Ah...'

Hope......?

I felt slightly more awake. I tried to think.

What I tried to reach out to, was it hope?

In this despair, could I still see hope?

Or... it is exactly because of such despair, so I saw a hope so miraculous that I could not believe it......?

'......I don't quite get it, but just consider it.'

The person who said that he did not understand what I said, had stood up to walk away. Although I could not hear well due to the ringing in my ears, but he seemed to have tore down the curtains and found a pair of scissors from the drawer. Then he cut the cloth into strips and bandaged the wound on my wrist.

I had lost most of my awareness, but I clearly remember the grip on my wrist.

...His arm felt icy on my wrist which had already lost quite some blood. But I could still feel some warmth for some reason.

It was so warm that I started tearing.

This touch made my mind go blank from sheer happiness.

Because this person saved me, I could continue living.

Because I was saved by this hope, I could continue living.

I wanted to see him clearly. I wanted to ask for his name. But I could not move nor speak nor hear clearly.

Until he left, I had no way of knowing who he was.

However, in the direction of the old campus, the despairing cursing voices had stopped. It was replaced by a murmuring.  Because there were too many voices, it was difficult to hear what was being said. But it seemed to be a person's name.

Ka... zu... Kanza?

...Kamukura?

Kamukura...Izu...ru...?

When I remembered that name, I lost consciousness once again.

The next time I woke up, I did not dare to go near the old campus.

I could only stare at the despairing place.

Around a thousand corpses of students lay around the old campus, especially around the gates. It was as if they were cursing the chosen ones who were being protected to not come out again.

There were blood stains on the doors, walls an everywhere. Unintelligible words were also written as curses. The corpses were so close together that it was difficult to recognise them as corpses. Expressions of being abandoned, denied and stepped on were seen on all the faces.

Clearly, they were the victims.

However, even when a non reserve course student like me looked at the gory scene ahead, I would wonder who were the victims.

Besides thousands of student corpses, there were a few hundred corpses of soldiers. 

To an outsider, this was the mark left behind from an intense battle.

There were five times the number of student corpses compared to those of soldiers. With the amount of weapons and training, this number was a miracle.

The reason for this miracle could be deduced from the looks of horror on the soldiers. I doubt that even professional soldiers who were experienced on the battle field wiykd ve able to withstand the insanity of this place.

...If they could stay calm, they would not have shot innocent students. From the wounds, I guess that they killed many of their own people by accident.

Humans are such strange creatures. They were clearly at an advantage, yet they lost due to the difference in atmosphere.

Maybe, it was the difference in the strength of their wills?

The cursing students had satisfied expressions on their faces besides that of despair. It was if if they understood that if they wanted to die, they wanted their deaths to have value.

Did their deaths have any values?

Such as becoming some kind of hope?

Becoming the hope of 'Kamukura Izuru'?

Bringing despairing suicidal students into a battlefield of despair, then dying of satisfaction, is this the hope of 'Kamukura Izuru'?

'Ah? Is this Komaeda-senpai from the 77th class?'

At some point of time, someone vomited on my back and made a piercing voice, just like in that broadcast.

'How did you find it, senpai? This beautifully despairing stage, what are your thoughts?'

My... thoughts?

After glancing at the surroundings, I lowered my head to look at the curtain cloth bandage around my wrist-- and then smiled.

'Ah, this is indeed... a stage that can cultivate hope...!'

The girl behind me tilted her head before laughing heartily.

My smile and her laugh reverberated in the insane space of despairing corpses and the hopeful dead.


	32. Chapter 32

Although it was late at night, nobody at the meeting room showed any signs of sleepiness when 'Komaeda' was talking about his memories.

Probably considering my feelings, Kamukura skipped a lot of the content.

To people who did not go through that day, the truth is so plain that it can be went through in a few sentences. But only people who had went through that scene could understand how twisted and insane it was.

_'Hinata...?'_

_'...I-I'm alright'_

And going through this, as the centre, yet unable to understand it... is the saddest.

Trying to understand but unable to understand, that was Kamukura then.

Just for the sake of stretching humankind, to understand 'hope', 'despair' had meaning. At that moment, at that place, Kamukura stepped into a whirlwind of despair.

He did not have an agenda of wanting to know, he only passed that place to observe. What made people despair or hope, Kamukura only wanted to understand this as a flawed creation who could not feel these.

At a place like this, because he could not understand despair, he became the miracle that could bring despair to zero.

To the reserve course students who knew about Hope's Peak Most Despairing Incident, Kamukura Izuru is a target of hatred and a monster. Furthermore, he is a monster that appeared in front of suicidal students, as he remained calm among the insanity and shocked everyone who was still alve.

People's emotions are contagious. Even if one does not know what is happening, they will get absorbed into the emotion that everyone else is feeling. Whether it is despair, or terror, it is the same.

What is most terrifying, is an abnormality who could not understand this.

Things which cannot be seen are scarier than things that can be seen. 

A monster that was completely unaffected by the atmosphere of despair, he became a symbol of the terror of despair.

Then, this monster who could never understand this miracle, only said what he wanted to at the spur of the moment.

'If dying here is despair, then what is your hope?'

He had no other motive, and could not any other motive besides wanting to know the answer. He only wanted to know what was 'hope' and 'despair'.

The result was the genesis of a hope as twisted as despair.

...More like Kamukura's shocking appearance still could not get rid of their despair. His neutralising property could not have any effect on the despair.

If anyone answered that they wanted to live, maybe it would have ended up differently.

'No, I want to die like a bug.'

This kind of despairing actions rose from instincts, so they could not find the will to live, even after calming down. They knew that only talent mattered and they did not have the right to live. Their last wish was to become fertiliser for the main course, to die as a 'human'.

'...Then, is this your wish?'

So, Kamukura brought them to the despairing battlefield.

The details of the battlefield had so much information that I could not organise. I also did not expect Kamukura to explain it to me.

Anyway, to Kamukura's whose talent was essentially analysis and comprehension, he was just going through a strategy game only.  While trying to find information on his 'previous life', he memorised all the information of the reserve course students. He called out the names of all 574 living students to form an army.

When he called out their names, he became the 'hope' of those students.

...The real hope of the reserve course students might really be just to be acknowledged by the main course. When they were denied of it, while a higher existence than main course students of 'Super High School Level Hope' remembered their names, their last hope was fulfilled.

Even though to Kamukura, names are just labels of people. They were just specimens for him to observe.

Kamukura is neither hope nor despair, he is just the absolute '0' which brings everything back to nil.

Meaningless, the war should not have happened. The entire school campus was destroyed with 461 dead, 54 fatally injured, and 41 lightly injured.

After what he considered as an observation procedure, some survivors asked Kamukura what they should do from now on.

Then, Kamukura who completely could not understand this emptiness, answered nonchalantly.

'Isn't it something that only you all can decide by yourselves?'


End file.
